How basketball joined Aaliyah Chavez and his father
The Mexico Aaliyah Chavez acknowledges that it became the recruit No. 1 of the Basketball of the Prepa thanks to her father.
Aaliyah Chavez It is a unique talent in basketball. The 1.80 m player (5 11 -inch feet), from Lubbock, Texas and who signed with Oklahomait has a great determination and creativity as a basis that complements its versatility, a combination that made it the number one prospect of the United States this spring.
None of this would be possible, she said, without the years, weeks, days and long hours that the national player Gatorade del Year spent training in a medium court gym in a shopping center that opened her father, who has been the teacher, physical trainer and coach of Aaliyah despite not having previous experience in basketball.
“I felt blessed to be able to do something with my dad every day without getting tired,” said Aaliyah, 18, Espn. “He entered my life when I needed it, and that connected us.”
In the days before Father’s Day, Sonny and Aaliyah Chavez reflected on their unique relationshipforged through rigorous sessions in the gym, A link that perhaps had never existed not being for basketball. He not only made Aaliyah a champion, but also gave him one in Sonny.
“We talked about she needed and I needed her,” said Sonny, whose job in her sheet and painting workshop used to keep him away from her family. “He entered and left his life. So I think that whenever he found something we could do and be constant, he got hooked. And that was the difference.”
Come on, Mamita! Push, pushing! Keep your feet light … Push! Tiredness is not real, mamita. Finish with force!
Aaliyah’s trajectory in basketball so far reached its high point in March, when the Lubbock Monterey High School He won the State Women’s Championship of Division II of Texas Class 5. Chávez led all players with 19 points and six assists, in addition to seven rebounds. He finished his high school career with 4,796 points, 1,279 rebounds and 771 assists. In addition, she was appointed All American of McDonald’s and player of the year of Naismith High School, along with her Gatorade Award.
While his passion is innate, his skills are the result of six or seven days a week, up to four hours a day, which passes by training with his father, a routine that, according to Sonny, became a lifestyle. That lifestyle was more than physical conditioning and shots selection, rather than giving up the joys of adolescence to focus on the foundations.
Sonny, now 42, worked long hours in his workshop he often returned to work after dinner, which prevented him from spending time with his family. When he started spending time with Aaliyah, he was inspired by his experiences playing American football in high school, an hour away, in Mulashoe, where the current coach of USC, Lincoln RileyHe was a teammate. Over time, its ability to motivate it and see it flourish changed its priorities. He was the first to realize that one day he could have a scholarship in the future.
Illusions are not made about what people will think when they see a “Hispanic of 136 kilos (300 pounds)”, as described to himself, already his daughter training in a gym: “‘There is no way that this guy takes her to the top'”.
“And it is the number one in the country,” Sonny said. “People will never recognize merit. But we make other coaches feel that it is possible. We achieve that other girls feel that it is possible. It is a blessing to know that we achieve it from western Texas.”
The routine towards the top began when Aaliyah, 7, wanted to get up from the couch and practice a sport at a time when he competed for attention with his father’s passion for the cars. Sonny doubted his interest in basketball and wanted to test his level of commitment. In search of inspiration, he noticed a traditional tool to grind, frequently used in kitchens where Mexican culture predominates.
“I think that much of that was seeing my mother cooking, right?” Sonny said. “She takes that molcajete. She crushes things.”
“We simply work differently, do you understand what I mean?”
But grind in a Molcajete It is not just about spraying something organic. It is also about combining different essences, since each element influences and improves the other, combining to create something spectacular and fresh.
“Our relationship is unique,” Sonny said. “Being a father is more important for me than anything else.”
The training was hard, but Aaliyah was determined to show his father that he was not going to surrender. He did not, so Sonny put aside his labor responsibilities to focus on her; Now he was motivated to help her achieve greatness.
“I think his real passion was always the cars,” said Aaliyah. “But once I discovered basketball, I think it changed to train girls.”
“I don’t care how you feel, you have to find it. Take strength! Come on! Come on! Come on! All the time! There is! There is!”
Anyone who observed today’s father-daughter training would see Aaliyah to turn a suspension shot after another, shots so perfect that most do not even touch the hoop when they go down. All at the speed of an important party, while Sonny instructions with the record of a sergeant instructor.
If one fails, keep going. If two followed, leaves the track and the gym, running to the other end of the mall and return under the Texan Sun at the end of May before the exercise begins again. Five, 10, 15 followed. As always for them two.
The next stop is Oklahoma, where Aaliyah will enter the focus of university care having already received around 1 million dollars in money named, image and likeness (NIL), according to Sonny.
“Much of this is about understanding the tour and where we want to arrive,” Sonny said. “People forget it when money and scholarships arrive. I’m still trying to encourage her to be the best in history.”
The trip united to father and daughter, creating new dreams and realities: a player with a future without limits and a father proud to live up to the title. It has been a long way to get there, one that is worth celebrating.
“Many people say they love our relationship, simply because they never see it without me,” said Aaliyah. “I feel blessed that people say that of us. I would resign all my awards just to have that relationship with my father.”
