For the Coronado High School boys varsity basketball team, the season so far has brought no shortage of challenges: nail-biting defeats, a 4-14 record as of Jan. 12 and the loss of junior Loxly Johnson to an achilles injury.
But for the team’s four seniors, Tekur Velazquez, Sam Dulin, Kyle Kuester and Noah Kalasho, one challenge stands out above the rest — graduation.
With graduation and post high school plans looming in the distance, graduating student athletes can rest in the fact that plenty of the lessons they learned in their sport will translate to life.
Cultivating life skills
Team sports cultivate certain skills and values that are coveted by employers in adult life, and Islander Head Coach Anthony Ott said those skills are at the forefront of his mind when coaching.
“That’s what I lead with when coaching,” said Ott. “Basketball is great, winning is great, getting better on the court is all awesome. But, being able to translate those habits and lessons off the court is certainly most important to me.”
Ott mentioned three key values which he aims to instill: work ethic, discipline and communication.
Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard. You have to be willing to do what others aren’t, and you’ll get to where others can’t.
Islander Head Coach Anthony Ott
“Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard,” Ott added. “You have to be willing to do what others aren’t, and you’ll get to where others can’t.”
Velazquez committed to the game
Velazquez, an Imperial Beach native, embodies the work ethic and discipline preached by Ott.
“Basketball has definitely taught me a lot; it’s kind of who I am,” said Velazquez.
As a four-year varsity player, Velazquez knows what it takes to excel at the varsity level. In his best game of the season he dropped 28 points and 11 rebounds, and boasts a 45% field goal percentage on the year.
“He’s a hooper,” said Ott. “He always puts in extra time in the gym, whether he’s asking me to open the gym before school, coming in early, staying late—he’s a constant professional when it comes to honing his craft.”
That commitment earned Velezquez the distinction of being named one of three captains on the varsity team, along with Kuester and junior Jimmy Lavine.
As a leader on and off the court, he’s had a great year so far averaging 15 points and five rebounds a game, in addition to 2.8 assists and 2.5 steals along the way.
Overcoming “Hell Week”
Dulin, also a four-year varsity player alongside Velazquez, shares the discipline and work ethic of his teammates and has emerged as a leader for the Islanders.
“Sam really developed a voice last year,” said Ott. “He led through his actions. He would never ask someone to do something that he wasn’t willing to do himself.”
A lot of what I learned from basketball doesn’t necessarily happen on the court.
Senior Sam Dulin
“A lot of what I learned from basketball doesn’t necessarily happen on the court,” Dulin said. “The biggest obstacle we’ve had to overcome in my time here was ‘Hell Week.’”
That week consisted of two practices a day, beginning with conditioning at 6 a.m. and culminating in a 5 p.m. workout alongside Navy SEALs.
“A lot of lifting, weighted running, everything you don’t want to do,” Dulin said about “Hell Week.” “Every day was harder, but after getting through it I felt like I could get through anything. The things we did I didn’t think I could.”
Kalasho coming in as a transfer
Kalasho, a transfer student from Saint Augustine, shares Velazquez’s passion and drive for the game.
For Kalasho, patience is key.
A Coronado native, Kalasho sat out his junior season at Saints to avoid the 30-day waiting period for transfer students and began contributing right away as an Islander. Now, in his final season, he hopes to continue pursuing his passion after high school.
“Whether it’s Division III or NAIA, I want to keep playing,” Kalasho said. “Ever since I was four-years-old I’ve been playing basketball. It has taught me so much: team work, hard work, discipline. Every single life lesson I’ve learned in some way from basketball.”
Kuester, a key communicator
Kuester also transferred into Coronado High School, but not necessarily by choice. As a child of a military family, Kuester has moved 13 times. From Chicago to Japan, he has plenty of experience adapting to new environments.
Kuester hadn’t played organized basketball until he joined the team last year as a junior, but he has quickly become a valued player, teammate and friend, according to Ott. He has also become a force in the paint with 10 points and 11 rebounds in his best performance of the season against Lincoln on Jan. 9.
“I got the opportunity to be a captain this year. I’m not as technically skilled as all of my teammates. Noah scores a lot, I don’t do that,” Kuester admitted. “But it’s given me a lot of leadership opportunities.”
According to Ott, Kuester exemplifies a core tenet of communication: being able to not just listen, but hear.
“I understand what coach calls ‘knowing your personnel.’ I’m able to talk to any of my teammates and get through to them,” Kuester added.
Those leadership skills will come in handy, as Kuester will be swapping out one uniform for another as a part of his ROTC program at the college he decides to go to.
In addition to studying mechanical engineering, Kuester hopes college will provide some great stories to tell his kids in the future, what he calls “dad lore.”
