Building anything from scratch is an endeavor worthy of admiration, whether that’s building a Lego set, baking an apple pie for the holidays, or establishing a brand new high school sports program.
MacDonald High School is in the midst of its fourth year educating and coaching local youth. In the three previous school years, there were no seniors on campus. For the sports teams, that made competing at the varsity level a significant challenge. Yet thus far this year, the growth in the sporting realm has been incredibly impressive for MacDonald. The football team lost just a single game all season, narrowly missing out on qualifying for the playoffs. And now, the boys’ basketball team looks poised to mirror the football team’s success.
Thus far this season, the Condors have also lost just a single game. On Monday, Dec. 22, the Condors finished off its pre-holiday break, non-league portion of the season with a decisive win over James Lick, 69-46. MacDonald will carry a 6-1 record into the start of the league season when the team takes on cross-town rival Santa Clara on Jan. 3.
The Condors can eerily mirror their football team’s success if it beats Santa Clara in the league opener, as the MacDonald football team won an epic game against the Bruins to start its season.
Condors Head Basketball Coach Gil Vasquez shared that he has been extremely proud of the growth and development of his young fellas.
“I’m incredibly proud of this group. A 6-1 start is exciting, but what makes it meaningful is how they’ve done it,” said Vasquez. “This is our first season with seniors, and those upperclassmen have truly built the culture from the ground up. When they were freshmen, there weren’t any older players ahead of them to guide the way. They had to learn it, live it, and now pass it on themselves. Their attitude, effort, and energy have been consistent, and that’s something we’ve been intentional about building from the ground up.”
While the Condors have a good mix of smaller shifty guards with players like captains Mateen Mazhar and Anthony Parrales, and strong bigs like fellow captain Yaqub Arale and junior Erick Kellogg, coach Vasquez notes the team success is far more than just a good mix of skills and athleticism on the court.
“What makes this group effective isn’t just size or shooting, it’s their buy-in. They play hard, they compete, and they trust one another. The chemistry has grown because they enjoy working together, and they hold each other accountable. When you have a group that brings energy to practice and genuinely wants to improve, everything else starts to fall into place,” said Vasquez.
Now with such a start a hot and everything seemingly falling into place, does the team talk about the playoffs as a goal?
“We don’t spend a lot of time focusing on results like CCS or league titles. Our focus is on the process, stacking and winning each day: bringing the right attitude, giving great effort and playing with energy and purpose,” acknowledged coach Vasquez. “If we do that consistently, the bigger goals will take care of themselves.”
