ANAHEIM, Calif.—The iconic 1979 hit “We Are Family” is more than twice as old as every member of Esperanza High School’s girls’ basketball team. That hasn’t stopped Coach Jimmy Valverde from using the classic single as something of a theme song.
Hey, it worked for the late baseball Hall of Famer Willie “Pops” Stargell and the World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates back then, so why not the Aztecs now?
“It’s a lot of fun,” Mr. Valverde told The Epoch Times.
There’s a lot of that going around at Esperanza these days. With a 58–36 victory over rival El Dorado of Placentia on Jan. 19, the Aztecs took over sole possession of first place in the Crestview League and improved their overall record to 19–3.
At the heart of Esperanza’s success is a remarkable series of familial relationships. Three sets of sisters comprise more than half of the team’s 11-player roster. Juniors Janelle and Lacie Miyatake are twins, as are sophomores Alexa and Charlotte Muller.
The third sister tandem is senior Bailey Frazier and sophomore Ellie Frazier. The younger sister, amazingly enough, also has a twin brother, Travis Frazier, who is a quarterback on the Aztecs’ football team.
Speaking of football, four members of the girls’ basketball team—the Frazier sisters, standout sophomore Madi Lam, and senior Alexis Quon—spent the fall playing for Esperanza’s flag football squad, also coached by Mr. Valverde. In the first year the sport has been sanctioned by the CIF Southern Section, the Aztecs went 25–0, including winning a post-season tournament sponsored by the Los Angeles Chargers.
“They’re 44–3,” said Mr. Valverde, combining the records of the flag football and girls’ basketball teams. “And they all made all-league. Madi Lam was the MVP of the league.”
On the basketball court, the 5-foot-7 Lam is “one of the best players in Orange County,” according to her coach. But when foul trouble resulted in Lam missing all but the final 1:13 of the third quarter against El Dorado, Esperanza turned the tables on what had appeared to be a chance for the Golden Hawks to make a run.
Already hampered by an ongoing series of illnesses that severely limited Quon and Janelle Miyatake, the Aztecs went to an all-sister alignment featuring the Fraziers, the Mullers, and Lacie Miyatake. Six of Bailey Frazier’s 12 points and one of Charlotte Muller’s four 3-point field goals helped stretch a seven-point, halftime lead to 13.
“Madi is obviously a very crucial part of the team,” Bailey Frazier said. “But I think all of us combined just kind of made an extra person on the team.”
Lam scored seven of her 11 points in the fourth quarter and Lacie Miyatake also finished with 11 points as Esperanza improved its Crestview League mark to 3–0 entering a Jan. 23 home game against Foothill.
The Aztecs also have another assignment this week, a big one. On Jan. 26, they will face powerful Mater Dei of Santa Ana in the Nike Extravaganza at Mater Dei. The Monarchs are fifth in Division 1 in this week’s CIF Southern Section rankings. Esperanza is 15th in the same division.
“I feel that it’s an honor to be asked by Mater Dei to go,” Mr. Valverde said. “Win or lose, my girls will give it everything they’ve got.”
Already this season, the Aztecs have played in a tournament in Boise, Idaho, where they won two of three games. Esperanza will also participate in another showcase-type contest, its Feb. 3 regular-season finale at Caruthers, near Fresno.
The teams met in a state playoff game in 2021 and have since developed a scheduling arrangement that should help both prepare for this year’s post-season.
“We have three goals every year,” said Mr. Valverde, who is in his 11th season. “Top five in Orange County, 20 wins, and a league championship. And when CIF comes, let’s make a run at it and see what happens.”
With the 5-foot-8 Bailey Frazier at center, the Aztecs certainly don’t boast the type of standout size that many teams do. Their “sisterhood,” however, has resulted in a rare intangible advantage.
“I think it’s just how close we are, on and off the court,” Lam told The Epoch Times. “Off the court, we’re really close, and that just carries onto the court. We’re all just trying to help each other out and do our best for each other.”
Mr. Valverde, 67, and assistant coaches Don Miller, Cierra Cradle, and Meghann Henderson build on that dynamic with a weekly team meeting they call the “powwow.” Players are encouraged to speak up about anything and everything, even if it might have been a perceived misstep by a coach.
“It’s something I’ve always done, and I think it’s good for us to do that,” Mr. Valverde said. “Coaches do make mistakes. Everything is not always perfect. Sometimes even families argue a little bit. If I’m going to hold them accountable, then I need to be accountable, too.”
