Outside of the winter, school-affiliated season, girls basketball players in the Verde Valley and most of Northern Arizona have not had an opportunity to continue playing unless they travel to Phoenix for a club team.

That all changed with the recent opening of Arizona Select Sedona, a satellite of the Arizona Select club in Phoenix.
The team draws middle school-aged girls from around the valley with the idea of continuing to learn fundamentals while playing in tournaments against high-level competition.

“The purpose is to start them at a young age so that when they get to high school, the fundamentals are there,” coach Kirk Westervelt said. “They know the offense, they know the defense, they know inbound plays, they know sideline plays, basically they’re ready to start …. To me it’s about preparing them.”

Once players learned of the Phoenix-area club’s expansion into the Verde Valley, players were immediately intrigued at the prospect of honing their skills outside of the short school season. Avoiding the huge expenses and time commitment that come with going to Phoenix multiple times a week to practice is a big advantage.

Another is that they all have a chance to play together, from a variety of schools, and not a single player is cut from the team. Any chance of having to compete for playing time against girls from bigger schools is automatically eliminated. Nonetheless, the level of play is still higher, given that the girls are seeking to improve year-round.

“I think it’s super important. When I first heard about the club I thought it was a really good opportunity for me to keep playing with girls that are super into it and are even at higher levels than me, and they really help push you and make you a better player,” Mountain View Preparatory eighth grader Nyah Valdez said.

Westervelt and Freddie Valdez, Nyah’s father, coach the girls three times a week with the help of Sedona Red Rock High School seniors Jo Toscano, Liza Westervelt and Brittany Medel. On Wednesday, April 11, they spent time working on the progression of grabbing a rebound and running a fast break.

“To me it was really exciting because I love basketball and my season at [Mountain View Preparatory] was really fun, and I wanted to continue playing basketball,” MVP eighth grader Emma Beattie said. “It’s really fun, I’m enjoying club. I learned a lot of new plays and our coach has taught us plays from basketball teams like Virginia or something …. Just a lot more skills and stuff.”

Over the weekend of Saturday and Sunday, April 7 and 8, the team participated in its first tournament, the Phoenix Southwestern Showcase, and took second place. The 10-player team comprised of girls from Sedona Red Rock Junior High School, Beaver Creek Elementary School, MVP and Immaculate Conception went 3-1 against Phoenix area teams.

“I noticed a huge improvement. At first when I heard we were going to play Phoenix girls I wasn’t really sure that I was going to hang, but being able to play with everybody on the club has really improved,” Nyah Valdez said. “It’s really cool getting to play all together because they’re all really good players.”

Success typically breeds success, and that is the aim of Sedona Red Rock High School girls basketball coaches Westervelt and Dave Moncibaez, who is also co-program director of AZ Select Sedona.

At the high school level, the Scorpions girls are coming off a state championship game appearance after two trips to the state semifinals in the last three years. In an effort to keep that momentum going, they are now heading up the Arizona Select Sedona club team.

“The future is being built as we speak,” said Moncibaez back in March.

Heading into the 2017-18 high school basketball season, there was almost not a girls team at all due to a lack of numbers. With the backbone of those successful teams graduating this spring, and most of the junior high school team comprised of seventh graders, roster spots will need to be filled.

Moncibaez and Westervelt want to make sure that the program does not come in danger of being without players again. Many of the girls on the team attend Red Rock Junior High and will be joining the high school ranks within the next two years.

The team is open to only girls. Players of any age can participate, but the team caters mostly to those in sixth, seventh and eighth grades from around the Verde Valley. It practices three times a week at the Red Rock High School gymnasium.

Anyone interested in joining can go to azselectbasketball.com or contact Westervelt at 204-2062.