WS Chronicle

Even though Amy Pedroza has only been playing basketball for four years, the teenager has made tremendous strides in her game. She is entering her freshman year at Atkins High School and plans to impact the team immediately.

As a sharpshooting guard with great ball handling skills, Pedroza feels she can positively impact the team, whether it’s the varsity or JV levels.  

“I expect people to work hard like I do,” Pedroza said about her expectations of high school basketball. “I try to do my best every day for AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) and middle school, so I think I will have to continue to work hard in high school.”

Pedroza said she picked up basketball later than most kids due to her not being sure about what sport she wanted to play. Her mother attempted to encourage her to play soccer, but she did not connect with the game the same way she did basketball.

“I still had to see what I wanted to do, because my mother wanted me to play soccer, but I decided to play basketball, because I was the only one in my family to play the sport,” she said about her decision to play basketball.  “I just love the competition of the game.”

The former Southeast middle schooler also plays AAU basketball for the Lady Comets. She said there is a big difference in the competition level of AAU versus middle school basketball.

“Some of the girls in middle school don’t really try, but for the Lady Comets, everyone gives it their best,” she continued. “The coaches here teach us to compete as hard as we can every time we step on the court.”

Pedroza decided to attend Atkins High School due to their high academic standards. She knows basketball is secondary to her academics. Her goal is to be on the all-A honor roll.

Charles Crews, Pedroza’s AAU coach, feels she has the talent to play on the varsity level as a freshman, but thinks a year on the JV level may be best for her development in the long run.

“I think she does have the ability to be a freshman varsity player,” said Crews. “The thing is to give her some time to learn and play behind the upperclassmen may be to her advantage. The biggest thing I want for her this year is to just learn how to compete at that level.”

When Crews first laid eyes on Pedroza, he immediately noticed her tremendous effort on the court.  

“She was in a basketball academy at the Y (YMCA) and I happened to see her and since I was starting a fifth grade girls team, I saw that she could play defense really well,” he said. “She couldn’t really dribble or shoot, but she worked really hard.

“She is a captain in our program now and she continues to work hard and the sky is the limit for her. She works out every day and now her confidence is through the roof.”

Going forward, Crews wants Pedroza to work on getting her teammates more involved, along with becoming more of a vocal leader.