Mailan Nguyen
Circulation Editor
Sophomore small forward Nick Schrader dribbled off the junior varsity Costa basketball team and onto the Bishop Montgomery High School court to further pursue his love for the sport.
Schrader says he made the decision to leave Costa and his JV basketball team so that he could play more competitively and become more focused on the sport. He made the transfer to Bishop Montgomery in August 2016 and on average, now practices around 21 hours a week, not including his game hours.
“I have been playing basketball pretty much my entire life or as long as I can remember,” Schrader says. “I love playing this sport because I find it fun and every time I step on the court to play, I get this rush of excitement.”
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According to Schrader, the Bishop Montgomery varsity basketball team is well known around the South Bay for winning three state championships in past years. By senior year, Schrader hopes to get better handles, become a lockdown defender, get closer to his teammates and receive multiple college offers.
“Although in the future of my basketball career I do not plan on playing professionally, I do hope and would love to play in college,” Schrader says. “I am very excited to see what happens throughout the rest of this season and the rest of highschool.”
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Schrader’s former JV coach, Ryan Newman says having the opportunity to coach him was amazing and that he loved how well he did things when instructed to, without asking questions. Although Schrader was a quiet kid, he always had a great attitude and respect from everyone else on the team.
“There were games where I had only taken Nick out for 1-2 minutes to rest, and he still always played with a ton of energy as well as single-handedly winning us several games last year,” Newman said. “What makes him so good is his soft touch around the basket and making many difficult shots look easy.”
According to Costa sophomore, shooting guard Kayan Mishra, Schrader was always a quiet person, but once he stepped onto the court he became fully engaged and focused on being the best he could be. He was a great offensive player, rim protector and physical player.
“Nick was an absolute beast on offense and defense and he always had an incredible work ethic,” Mishra said. “You never saw him down on himself and he just always kept playing with so much ambition.”
According to Newman, Schrader’s transferring to Bishop Montgomery was a huge blow to the program. If he had continued attending Costa, he would have been a terrific defender and a varsity player for the next three years.
“I loved coaching Nick because he would do anything that you asked him and he would do it very well. I never had to worry about him having an attitude, not working hard enough, missing classes, or anything like that. He was a coach’s dream,” Newman said. “I do wish him nothing but the best, because he is a great player and a very good kid.”
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