“I remember in one game against Tam, one of our players was getting heckled. In the next play, Charlie Treene went on to dunk on somebody and then pointed to the crowd, which was probably the coolest thing that [our team had] ever seen,” Brooks Allen, a senior basketball player and teammate of Charlie Treene, said. 

Senior Charlie Treene started playing basketball in the Christian Youth Organization (CYO) after watching his older sister play in the same league a couple of years prior. After three years at the CYO level, he decided to focus his athletic pursuits strictly on basketball and joined the North Bay Basketball Academy (NBBA) travel team. Six years later, he hasn’t looked back and credits his commitment to the sport to his passion for the game. 

“I like playing the games, but I also [value] the smaller things like working out and shooting,” Treene said. “It’s a very peaceful and meditative thing in my life and just having that dedication of something to work towards really helps to give [me] some sort of purpose.”

After a year of great individual achievement for the 6’7” power forward, the season remained far from over. With personal successes and a collegiate opportunity at Pomona Pitzer under his belt, Treene was able to shift his focus towards a goal that the team had been training for all year: winning a Marin County Athletic League (MCAL) Championship. 

“You want the main focus to be on the goals of the team,” Treene said. “Winning games [in the regular season] was great, but winning that championship is what mattered to us as a team. It hadn’t been done in a while for our school and [the championship win] was an accumulation of all [our] hard work paying off.”

Despite a long sustained injury that kept him out of the season for three months, Treene left off right where he started and rallied his team through two important wins against Marin Catholic and Tamalpais by scoring over 20 points in both. Through his valiant return, he fought his way back into being named to the 2022 All-MCAL first team.

However, the most impressionable part of the senior’s career was the lasting impact that he was able to make on his teammates. Allen, who grew up playing against Treene in CYO and travel ball, switched from his opponent to teammate during their freshman year. Now, finishing their final season of playing together, Allen highlights an aspect of Treene’s moral character that only adds to his impressive background. 

“I think that Treene has always had a competitive spirit,” Allen said. “I’ve played against and with him for most of my life and as the years go on, he continues to grow as a person, on and off the court.” 

Next year, Treene plans on continuing his basketball career at Pomona Pitzer College in Claremont, California. Drawn to the school by both academic and athletic aspirations, Treene believes it is the best place for him to succeed at the next level. 

“The way I think I fit into the program and what position I’ll play is what I wanted,” Treene said. “After visiting it and talking to the coaches, I can definitely picture myself there with the coaches and it just seemed like the right place.”