After being hired in the fall, new head coach Steiv Boyd has his JV basketball team off to an undefeated start.
The team is 6-0, and recently won a tournament in Petaluma. Their average margin of victory is 30 points per game.
Boyd originally became involved with Redwood basketball because he had worked alongside varsity coach Steve Compagno in the Lakeshow AAU basketball program.
“I would come over to Redwood to work out with a few guys, and then I got hired to do the fall [skill development and conditioning] training for the team,” Boyd said. “Since I’d been here so much, and I had the familiarity with the players, I thought it was a good fit.”
Boyd, who grew up in Compton, began his playing career as a sophomore on his high school’s junior varsity team.
“I was playing pick up with some guys, and I wasn’t very good,” Boyd said. “But that summer before my sophomore year I went to the park and played every day.”
He played throughout high school and received a basketball scholarship to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. After transferring and finishing his career at Dominican University, he then began coaching.
Although this is his first year coaching at Redwood, he is familiar with MCAL, having spent the last two seasons coaching the Marin Catholic JV girls’ basketball team. Boyd has been coaching for 12 years all together.
“It’s hard to compare teams, but I think one thing that is really unique about Redwood is how committed these guys are, and how hard they work,” he said. “Because we have so much talent, they compete against the best players in the league daily, which is only making them all better.”
According to sophomore William Breck, having a second season of playing with one another has contributed to their success.
“Last season was the first time where we had all played together, so naturally team chemistry was a little shaky at first. This season, however, it’s great,” said Breck, who was recently nominated to first team honors in the tournament.
Boyd believes that their winning can be attributed to the chemistry as well.
“It’s pretty surprising how much they all genuinely like each other,” Boyd said. “That’s important when you’re building a solid foundation of guys, especially with a team that I feel can be really special.”
Players say a big part of the reason why they like and can relate to is Boyd because of his past experience.
“His best coaching quality would probably be his understanding of the game,” said Breck. “I’ve had a lot of coaches that have been older, but Coach Steiv plays. That makes it capable for him to see the court at a perspective that we see it.”
