With the winter high school season gone, and the echoes of sneakers against the hardwood still resonant in our collective memory, Prospects On Deck (POD) has initiated a stirring resurgence in the community. It is with electrifying enthusiasm for basketball fans that POD Basketball recently announced that they are back, heralding a new era for talented players across the Inland Empire.
Coaching aficionado and architect of success, CIF championship Coach Derrick O’Neil, is the beacon guiding this revival. Coach O’Neil, lauded for leading the Linfield Christian girls basketball team to its maiden championship victory in 2019, boasts an illustrious resume that extends well beyond the reaches of the game. The accolades amassed under his tenure from 2015 to 2024 are nothing short of inspiring, with over forty student-athletes leaping from his tutelage to collegiate triumphs.
The roster of distinguished names speaks volumes of his impact: Sydney Moran (’19, Linfield), Nazrin Urel (’16, Vista Murrieta), Gabby Stoll (’18, Vista Murrieta), to name just a few, all share the common thread woven by their mentor – Coach Derrick. These athletes, shaped through gritty competition and an unyielding will to improve, have not only been imparted with Coach Derrick’s perspicacious basketball acumen but his ethos of perseverance and strategic play.
In 2020, as the world grappled with the uncertainty ushered in by a global pandemic, Coach Derrick made a heartfelt choice to step away from the limelight of the courts and veered toward anchoring his family through tempestuous times. His hiatus, while keenly felt within the basketball fraternity, was a poignant testament to his core values.
Fast forward four years and Coach Derrick is returning, and POD Basketball is reinventing itself with a vision even more grandeur than before. This call is an invitation to girl basketball players straddling the lengths of the 215 and 15 freeways. It’s an opportunity of a lifetime to train, contest, and showcase their verve among the crème de la crème of the IE’s talent pool. For those ready to take their game to unrivaled heights, reach out to Coach Derrick at prospectsondeck@gmail.com.
JP Raineri can be reached by email at sports@reedermedia.com.
