“ Iwant them to leave high school remembering their season as one where it was fun and that they left it all out on the court. It’s ingraining in their minds that you come to every practice and every game, giving it your all and having fun.”
Fresh off securing the league championship, this is how co-head coach Izabella Om reflected on her goals in her first season leading Fountain Valley High School’s girls’ basketball program alongside co-head coach Camryn Hamaguchi.
The coaching staff also consists of varsity assistant Dani Iwami, junior varsity coach Iris Hasegawa and frosh head coach and JV assistant Lauren Fujitani. It is believed that the program has one of the youngest high school basketball coaching staffs in Orange County.
“The coaches have really boosted my confidence in basketball. Last year, I never shot the ball, but now I’m not scared to shoot because I know it’s okay to miss,” senior and co-captain Candice Tran said. “For the team, we’ve never been so close and practices have never been so fun. I think the coaches have created this atmosphere of companionship, which has really helped our team perform well too.”
The Barons have certainly achieved a memorable season thus far.
Unlike previous years of dividing the Sunset region into the Surf and Wave Leagues, this year, the Sunset League featured a round-robin format where each school played their other six teams once at home and once away.
In the league finale, Fountain Valley bested Los Alamitos High School with a score of 43-40 to split the Sunset League title in a three-way tie with Los Alamitos and Corona del Mar.
Adding to the memories and achievements of the season, junior Kailey Nishi broke two Fountain Valley school records. Kailey scored nine three-pointers against Newport Harbor in December, breaking the record of most three-pointers of a game — a record previously held by her sister Melody who scored eight in a game. Later, in January, Kailey scored her 54th three-pointer of the season against Marina, which broke the record for most three-pointers in a season, previously 53 set by Maragret Tengan.
Within the Fountain Valley and Orange County community, Om has also recently founded OC Royals, a youth basketball program offering competitive teams and skills development clinics. Some of Fountain Valley’s players serve on the coaching staff of the program, helping to mentor the youth.
“Coaching for OC Royals has really opened my eyes to the experiences of a coach. When you get frustrated or question your coach for a call they make, coaching yourself really helps you understand where they’re coming from,” Tran said. 'I’m lucky to be given the opportunity to contribute to a great program with passionate people.”
Fountain Valley heads into the postseason in the Division 2A CIF-SS playoffs.
“This is your family, and you only get to do this once,” Om said. “I think that so far, the team has been doing that, and I’m very proud of them.”