West Valley Basketball Club

Parent Blog. Thoughts on Perspective and Competing. Be the guardian of your own success Success and failure are two sides of a divide separated only by perspective. As student athletes I felt this was really important for my children to understand and internalize through constant reminders and practice. So much of the experience of a student athlete is outside the realm of their control that it is very easy to feel like a failure when success is measured by traditional metri...cs. For instance the most obvious goal that practically everyone sets for themselves in basketball is to average a certain number of points per game during the season. But if the coach never plays or plays the player so little, that it would have been impossible to achieve that goal, does that mean the child has failed. By normal means of evaluations the player would indeed feel like he or she failed or worse yet feel like a failure. The truth of the matter though is that by defining the goal which was not completely in the players control the success or failure of that goal was mortgaged to a third person. This is to be avoided at all costs. We took a different approach. Our measures of success were all defined outside the confines of the basketball court. It was in the offseason preparation with a relentless focus on improving one or more aspects of the game. It involved taking a very critical look at the weaknesses and what we deemed was necessary to improve as a player based on discussions with a trusted coterie of people. To be clear the intent of this exercise was to put ourselves in the best position to play but the goal was to become a better basketball player and eliminate the weaknesses that were identified. The distinction is important because by this measure of success the player is successful even before they step foot on the court in-season. Whether or not their efforts paid off on the court was to be determined by someone else and not a factor in the definition of success. I recently had an opportunity to exercise this principle in my own life at work. A product that me and my team had been working on tirelessly for the last 18 months was suddenly scrapped by the new leadership team. Having worked in the hi-tech industry for a long time I always knew this was a possibility. That's why I was careful not to define my success on the basis of whether the product would sell successfully or not. Rather I set my goal as making a significant improvement in the product than when I started. Doing this allowed me to, with a clear conscience, claim success even though the product itself would not ship. To summarize: 1. Think very carefully about your goals. Ensure that the goal you set for yourself is measurable and completely in your control. 2. You can fail at something but don't consider yourself as a failure. The distinction is critical to understand. 3. Set the bar so high for yourself that no one can judge you harsher than you judge yourself.

Congratulations Natalia Ackerman. A Great wya to end your high school career. So very proud for you. Great job Family. Cal Poly here she comes. Look out Big West.

Nice like when these post up. Janiya No Range Limit Sevilla.

We all celebrate Mothers Day in our own special way. Appreciating the sacrifices they make and respecting their steadfast devotion. Thanks Mom

Congratulations Coach Russell-Nava. Well earned. Richly Deserved.

2020 Graduate Anika Prasad. Saratoga High School. Off to play next year at Carnegie Mellon. We were fortunate to have her for one year and we will continue to cheer her on now as an Alum. Thank you and congratulations to Mom Sahana And Dad Ram Prasad.

Do you know how powerful you are? Being encaged in our comfort zone, often we tend to forget the potential we are blessed with. This bird had been in a cage for... a long time and thus had forgotten its ability to fly high. But no captivity and not even the power of time can take our potential away from us. Yes, it may be hard and may take a lot of effort. But most certainly we can fly high (based on our individual capacities of course) because that’s what we are meant to do. And our greatest fortune is when we have those whose words, example and inspiration can free us from the cage of our complacency (like the people in the video who freed the bird from the cage). After that, it’s our journey. We have to keep flapping our wings until we realise the magical power we have been given. Keep flapping, keep trying! You can fly. Try, try, try and one day you will be able to fly. Isn’t it amazing also to be surrounded by those who want us to fly and celebrate when we can than by those who don’t want us to and feel insecure by our progress. Choose your company wisely. VC: Unknown

Notre Dame's Muffet McGraw announced that she is stepping down as women's basketball head coach after 33 years in the position.

Destiny Slocum headed to Arkansas.

Congrats Natalia. Well Earned. Have them leave the trophy at Cal Poly and you can pick it up in the Fall You are not just a superb Student Athlete but also a fantastic teammate. Congrats to Mom and Dad Cassie Ackerman and Tony Ackerman. Look out State. Jasmine Ackerman, class of 2022 up next. Cal Hi State DIVISION III Player of the year. Natalia Ackerman (Aptos) 6-1 Sr. F... For the second straight year, a player from the CIF Central Coast Section has snagged the top honor in this category. It goes to someone who Aptos head coach Bruce Funk called one of the best players ever from Santa Cruz County, according to the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Ackerman also is one of the very few players from below D1 or D2 in the CIF state divisions who had a statistically outstanding season from a top team and who has a D1 college scholarship (in her case to Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo). Ackerman’s season and her team’s ended in a NorCal D3 regional semifinal loss to Woodside Priory of Portola Valley. She still had 18 points and 13 rebounds in that game against a Woodside Priory club (also from the CCS) that last year had senior Ila Lane, last year’s honoree for this division. In leading Aptos to a 27-5 record, Natalia netted 19.1 points per game. She also snared 10.5 rebounds with 2.6 assists, 3.1 steals and 2.2 blocks. She ended with 18 double-doubles, became her school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,782 points and had more than 1,100 career rebounds. A first-ever state player of the year honoree from Santa Cruz County, another outing for Natalia that was impressive was 34 points and 15 rebounds in a NorCal D3 playoff win vs. Lick-Wilmerding of San Francisco. Ackerman also was a four-year all-league pick and helped the Mariners win three straight league titles. Courtesy Cal Hi Sports. Thank you.

Tune into ESPN SportsCenter today at 5 p.m. to watch C. Vivian Stringer receive the Legends of Coaching honor during the 2020 John R. Wooden Awards.

Thanks Bud Ogden.

This is such an honor. Thank you Bobby and Tony for sharing this article, I would have never seen it. I am so blessed to have the opportunity to coach and I truly believe that the players are the ones that deserve all of the accolades, I’m the lucky one that gets to be a part of it all!