By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
St. Joseph Academy’s Valeria Tapia is as talented as they come.
The junior guard has been a fixture on varsity since her freshman year, the same season St. Joseph went 35-3 and won a district title. Last season, the team reached the TAPPS regional tournament.
And for the past two years, her game — and her confidence — has expanded while competing for the FIBA Mexican national team in her age group.
“That makes me feel more confident in my game,” Tapia said. “It’s very positive. I’m getting better. I use everything I’ve learned in my game.”
But at times, the two styles of play have conflicted and caused unintentional riffs between player and coaches.
“Last year, some of things she was doing I was taking personally,” St. Joseph coach Cynthia Martinez said. “She’s not listening to me or she doesn’t want to do the things we need her to. Then I watched those (FIBA) games and it finally dawned on me, the way she was playing last year is the way she was playing in those games. She has the ball all the time and is dishing it off at the basket, not in an offensive set. I understand now. It’s a cool transition that we’ve both made.”
The international style of play wasn’t conducive at times in the Lady Bloodhounds’ offensive game plan. But now Tapia and Martinez have a better understanding of what the other wants. St. Joseph hopes it pays dividends as it begins district play on the road against San Antonio St. Anthony on Saturday.
“This year we’ve struggled, not because of basketball, because of the meshing of the brains,” Martinez said. “In the last three weeks, we’re getting to the point where she understands it. She’s been a player all her life, and now she’s starting to understand the game. She’s starting to put that all together; the team is putting it together.
“I think that’s been the biggest thing for her this year, was getting the mental part of the game.”
Martinez said that basketball is a constant for Tapia, so it’s hard to make a change overnight.
“(Valeria) plays basketball more than 365 days a year because I know she’s playing in her sleep,” she said.
Tapia has played basketball since elementary school along with three other teammates. That chemistry and bond between them has grown throughout the years and has continued at St. Joseph.
“We’ve had that chemistry for a while,” she said. “We feel like we’re more like sisters.”
Tapia has become a leader for the Lady Bloodhounds. She is shy and quieter off the court, but on the court she can be heard using her voice to encourage her teammates to keep going.
“She has to be our leader,” Martinez said. “She has to make sure everyone stays calm, collected. But she’s always harder on herself than her team.”
The Lady Bloodhounds’ coach said the team was very selfless this season, and Tapia is the catalyst.
While blending two styles of play has been hard at times, it has allowed Tapia to bring some of her international experience to St. Joseph and intertwine it with the team. She has learned how important it is to play as a team.
“We can be a very good team. We have to want it, to play together,” Tapia said. “I think in basketball, it’s one of the most important things. If you play selfish, if you play for you, it’s no good. It’s a team sport, you have to work as a team, or otherwise you won’t get good results.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.