Allen Koyano, a seventeen year old junior here at Palos Verdes High School, has been a part of the school’s basketball program since his freshman year. As a freshman he played for the Junior Varsity team, and the following year after that he remained in Junior Varsity, and currently now is a junior on Varsity. Through the years playing with all different types of players, playing at different levels,playing for some of the school’s great coaches has made him into the player he is today.
One of the questions I had for Allen was if he thought he was going to make Junior Varsity his freshman year, and Koyano stated,” No, I didn’t think I would”. But after tryouts, he was obviously able to prove to the coaches that he was ready to play for Junior Varsity. Playing for this level, he had to be able to play with mainly older kids. I asked what this experience was like, and he responded,” It was hard at the beginning, but I got used to it. ”He also responded to this questions by saying,” I was playing with sophomores and juniors, so I was definitely one of the worst players on the team and that made everyone look a lot better than me. ”So overall all the hard work paid off when he made Junior Varsity as a freshman. But to play at this level there were a few challenges he had to adjust to in order to keep up with the older and more experienced players.
After a whole year of hard work as a freshman, Allen’s sophomore year came up. Once again after the tryouts, the coaches thought it would be best if he would just remain on Junior Varsity. Although he couldn’t go to varsity, staying in Junior Varsity had its perks. Being able to play for Junior Varsity as a freshman gave the coach a chance to know what kind of player he was. So when he played for him for second consecutive year the coach already knew his strengths and weaknesses. As a sophomore, he had gotten better as a player and was ready for the season. Unfortunately I questioned him on how the season went for him personally and he responded by saying, “I didn’t play good in the beginning of the season.” So seeing this the coach didn’t let him play as much. But as the season went, he started to readjust and think over what he was doing wrong and how he should fix it. Almost half way through the season, Koyano was able to improve the way he played, and was even able to become a starter.
After a long year as a sophomore, Allen is currently now a junior. This year he was able to move up to Varsity, knowing that it was going to be a challenge. Currently the Varsity team has had a few pre-season games, but is getting ready to take on the upcoming season. I was able to ask a few more questions about his history as a basketball player for Palos Verdes High School. I asked him what made basketball so enjoyable to him, and he responded that it was because of the competitiveness and the fast pace of the game. I also asked him who was a professional from the NBA that he looked up to, and who he personally thought was a leader from who he has played with over the years in Palos Verdes. He told me that he definitely looked up to Kobe Bryant, and from Palos Verdes he said Frank Salceda, a current senior on Varsity, because he is a player who is always talking and communicating. Finally I asked him which game that he has played was the most memorable, who his favorite opponent was, and asked about the PV vs Pen game. He replied that the most
+memorable game was when he scored 16 points against Redondo. He told me his favorite opponent was Mira Costa, because of their competitiveness against our school. Lastly, he told me he was very excited for the PV vs Pen game. Being able to play for great coaches, being on the court with great teammates, the Palos Verdes High School basketball team has definitely improved Koyano’s skill as a player.
