Junior Yarexy “Yari” Diaz is a leader on Santa Ana’s girls basketball team, as well as a standout student off the court.

She was recently named 1st team All Orange Coast League as a very successful season came to an end.

“I’m very proud of myself and also very proud of my team for pushing me a lot during off season and during season,” she said.

Diaz feels as though her confidence grew with her team and that the team in general developed in certain areas on the court and is excited to continue growing with them next year.

Individually, she sees a lot of self growth as “stepping into a new leadership role was very nerve wracking but it was exciting.”

Making friendships with her team and making memories, along with meeting Kobe Bryant have been some of the best experiences throughout her basketball experience. Her interest in basketball peaked when one of her friends who was in the city league told her to join the sport, saying it would be fun and from there she just joined and stuck to it.

The junior also has a 4.0 GPA and is very proud knowing she can keep those straight A’s and she pulled through and did it. Aside from basketball, she enjoys going out with her cousins to go food testing and thrifting.

Some goals she has for herself are getting her confidence back along with being patient and in the future she hopes to have a stable job so she can help her parents.

One of her favorite memories with her team was when they had a bad game but continued to keep their heads up and went out to eat. She shares a special bond with her coach, Calvin Barnes, because he’s been there from the beginning of her freshman year to now and Diaz says, “I think he’s really helped me a lot with my confidence, which is really nice from a coach because some coaches can be kind of bad.”

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