Tasha Hicks is new to Evergreen High School. Really new.

She just moved here in September from California and now she is the new head coach of the girls’ basketball team. She has only been with the team less than two weeks, but in that short time she already has a good rapport and likes what she sees.

So where did she learn the game? Tasha grew up playing basketball at Auburn High School and graduated in 1999. Because of Tasha’s exceptional talent she earned a full ride basketball scholarship to Weber State. She would play only one year before making a tough decision to leave the program to pursue other interests. She has never lost her love of basketball, so when the opportunity to coach came knocking, she opened the door and answered the call.

When asked how it felt to be named head coach she replied, “I’m really excited. I’ve been out of the basketball world for about six years and I’ve wanted to be coaching for a while. When the opportunity came up, when the position opened, one of my friends told me about it I just got really excited about the possibility. I get to be engaged in the lives of young girls and in basketball I think athletics is really important for young girls in terms of building self-esteem and work ethic. That has played such a role in my life outside of basketball, and I just hope I can instill that in these girls that are playing.”

Besides being the girls basketball coach Tasha also has a full time job. “I actually got a job to be a pastor at Mount View Presbyterian Church; it’s right on the next block from the school.”

She continues to say, “Coming up here, part of it was how do I, as a pastor, how am I engaged in the community. It’s really important for me to be involved in the community and the church has such a big emphasis on children and youth in the community. Several of the youth at Evergreen actually attend our youth group or they’re a part of what’s called the ‘YES Foundation’, which is a non-profit organization that helps provide a whole array of opportunities for young people. One of our members is the founder and president of that, and it actually runs out of the church.”

I asked her some questions about the team but she didn’t have many answers. She is just too new to the program. One question I asked was how many returning varsity players are there from last year's varsity team. She turned and asked for some help from one of her players. The player told us there are seven returning players with three starters from last year’s team.

One thing she did know was what drill the girls like, and the one they don’t like so much. They like the drill to make 25 layups in 2 minutes because it pushes them. They hate the defensive slides which are used for conditioning.

Also new to Evergreen’s girls’ basketball program is JV coach Daniel Wonder. He has coached boys for 13 years but this is his first time to coach girls. Coach Hicks mentioned the two of them have the same ideas about basketball and it has been a pleasure to work with him.

About the team's play so far? They are working on the fundamentals right now. There’s a lot of athleticism and a lot of good team charisma. Coach Hicks is really impressed with how quickly the girls are picking things up. The improvements she has seen in the past few weeks have been amazing. They’re soaking things in, they want to learn, and they’re excited to have this fresh start. There’s a lot of athleticism, getting them to use that, and playing together is what the coaches are working toward.

To begin the season the girls' first varsity game is a non-league away game at Fife High School, December 1st, at 7:00pm, with the girls JV game at 5:15pm. They play another away game, this time at Rainier Beach, December 5th, 7 p.m., JV at 5:15 p.m. Their first Seamount League game is at home against Kennedy Catholic, December 7th, at 7, JV 5:15 p.m.