By Annie Hoang, Staff Writer
Amidst the current pandemic, girls varsity basketball is scheduled to play next season under the guidance of current girls varsity volleyball and boys varsity golf coach Lyle Takeshita as well as Athletic Director Eric Chin. Starting in early October, the two are the new head coach and assistant coach, respectively.
In past years, Chin played basketball at TCHS, while Takeshita coached basketball at the youth and college level. In addition, Chin was the boys varsity basketball head coach while Takeshita was his assistant coach, both coaching together for 10 seasons back in 2010. Once the school notified Takeshita that he acquired the basketball head coach position, he appointed Chin to be his partner.
“Mr. Takeshita is a good friend of mine,” Chin said. “We’ve coached together for so long, that when I stepped down as head coach back then, he did too. When the opportunity came for him to be the head coach, I always told him I would help him out.”
Back then, Takeshita took on being assistant coach to be more involved in his son’s life; but now that his son has graduated, Takeshita is looking to bring stability and introduce training techniques he accumulated from past experience coaching. The girls varsity basketball athletes acknowledged this transition with positive comments.
“So far, I feel the same as I always have about coaches Takeshita and Chin,” senior girls varsity basketball player Hana Trieu said. “I’ve always respected the two of them as basketball coaches and as people in general, so I’m just curious to see how they’ll coach me and my teammates this year.”
Once the state allows basketball practices to resume, Takeshita and Chin must determine a way to hold tryouts and coordinate practice safely. If in-person team practices will take place, restrictions include wearing masks and social distancing on the court. Also, all equipment can only be shared between two players and must be disinfected after each use.
“Despite the pandemic, I expect that my players work hard,” Takeshita said. “I really try to emphasize having a good work ethic because basketball is a small picture of what the real world will be like. I hope this work ethic translates over to life and success.”