May 2, 2006 > Fremont girls national basketball champions

by Sweta Ramachandran

The 6th grade south Fremont National Junior Basketball All Stars team successfully beat the Covina Valley girls to win the National All-Net Championships recently held in Los Angeles. Along the way, they demolished three other teams with convincing final scores to lock their place in the championship game. The championship was a nail-biting game with both teams evenly matched, running neck and neck at 20 points each in the third quarter. That was when the monster-press play crafted by the coaches introduced the element of surprise and Fremont overpowered Covina to win the game with a convincing final score of 46-30.

The Fremont team is lead by manager Sally McCarthy who has contributed to the community as a basketball coach for the last ten years. She has successfully motivated students she coached years ago - Sweta, Lindsay and Amanda (now Mission San Jose High and Irvington High varsity players) to give back to the community by coaching the current team for the last three years. They have done a tremendous job of connecting with the players and motivating them to do their best and more while enjoying the experience themselves. The girls also have responded well to teenage coaches as they can relate to them a lot better.

While this was truly a team effort and every girl did her bit towards the final result, Nicole and Ilene drove the charge for the Fremont team with relentless pursuit of drives to the basket against all odds. Maya's excellent defense and rebounding frustrated the opponents. Iris leveraged her smaller frame to charge in between the players like a dynamo and accounted for many baskets. Hawa excelled with her ability to draw fouls while putting the ball up and converting the resulting free throws. Shannon and Justine demonstrated down-the-line runs and outside shooting ability to make their contributions to the score. Last but not least, Sydney playing her first season of basketball, demonstrated that she had come a long way and contributed to defending the basket and sharing her lay-ups.

All in all it was a proud moment for the city of Fremont, coaches, parents, and the girls. In the words of Linda, Director of the South Fremont NJB chapter who was in LA to cheer the teams, "This was the best camaraderie she has ever seen between parents, coaches and players and that she felt proud on their accomplishment."