Athlete of the Issue -Devin Hernandez-
April 29, 2019
Only in his second season playing for the Owls, sophomore Devin Hernandez was unstoppable. Dropping an average of 23 points per game, his skill significantly added to the team’s success.
Starting his basketball career at the age of seven, Devin is a player at heart. “I played for Roosevelt Elementary School when I was first starting. As I got older, I started playing for more advanced club teams such as the Vipers, the Ballers and the Franklin All Star team.”
For being only a sophomore on such a small team, Devin has had to take on a significant leadership role.
According to Coach Carlos Guerrero, Devin’s leadership added much to the team. “Devin’s role on the court is to be a leader on the offensive end and support his teammates.
When I see Devin, I see a young man every day having to navigate through the pressure of being one of the youngest players and still be expected to lead our offense. He doesn’t back down from that challenge.”
Devin’s teammate, senior Kyle Aitcheson, also acknowledges Devin’s leadership on the court: “Devin has really led by example. He had a lot of pressure on him all season to be the best, and he always performed in that way.”
An example of Devin’s leadership shows through Laguna’s game vs. Cate. Devin knocked down eight three-pointers, six being in the sec- ond half. As the game ended, Devin had dropped 36 out of the 57 total points. Through this constant suc- cess, Devin describes his mom and sister as being big supporters. “It’s really nice to look up in the stands and see my little sister waving her pom-poms and hear my mom cheer- ing my name.”
Although Devin’s skills are some of the best on the court, he is contin- uously striving to sharpen them and improve as a player:
“My goal for next season is to get stronger and get better at getting rebounds, driving to the hoop, and also work on my defense. These are all things I need to improve on to play, hopefully, in college.”
Devin describes NBA player Ky- rie Irving as a role model. “I want to be able to handle the ball like him. I want his kind of ability to control the ball and make smart passes.”
Looking forward to next season, Devin acknowledges the team’s hard work. “Although we didn’t win as much as I would have liked, our team worked harder than ever. We built each other up and improved dramatically from last year.”
