GILROY — The old adage says it takes a village to raise a child.
Cathy Caradonna gave an emotional thank you to the community which has supported her daughter, Cydney, in reaching her goal of playing basketball at the college level. Cydney’s dream came true Wednesday when she signed her letter of intent to play for Hawaii Pacific University in Honolulu on a full ride scholarship next year in front of her village — family, friends, teammates and classmates.
“It’s a little bit exciting and a huge amount of relief,” Cydney said. “It’s the ultimate subliminal feeling to know that all that hard work was for something. It all paid off and that’s all I wanted. I’m getting a free education and I get to play basketball in Hawaii all for free and that’s more than I could ever dreamed of.”
Cydney received $40,000 on an academic scholarship with HPU coach Reid Takatsuka saying he’d take care of the rest with an athletic one. The sophomore guard said good grades were never an option in her house—it was either keep them up or no basketball. So when Cydney found out about the academic scholarship—in the form of a surprise announcement at her house by her mom and entire team—she was blown away.
“It was like ‘Oh, I forgot about that. I forgot I had these grades.’ I was more concerned about the whole basketball thing—just busting my butt on the court,” she said. “I wasn’t so much thinking about the classroom as much. My mom was like ‘I told you! I told you!’ She’s always been on me about my grades, but that’s always just been a must. It was nonnegotiable.”
Her work on the court certainly paid off, too. Cydney helped led her team to the second round of the Central Coast Section Division III tournament with a 16-point performance en route to 48-37 win over Sobrato. Her leadership and skills on the court caught the attention of the league as she was named the Co-MVP of the Monterey Bay League Gabilan Division this season.
But she didn’t always have such discipline.
Christopher coach Heather Stewart said when Cydney joined the team her sophomore year, she was “untamed.” Hard work, dedication and the right attitude proved to be the winning combination and transformed her into a leader on the court.
“What she’s been able to do is develop her on-skill abilities with ball handling and shooting and things like that. She’s also learned how to control a lot more of her energy,” Stewart said. “She grew a lot in terms of understanding about utilizing the teammates around you and trying to make your teammates better. This year she had a little bit of a different team around her and this year it was very important that she helped her teammates become better players themselves. I think she grew that way, too.”
Cydney’s village could always be heard at her games — even on the road. Cathy said other parents were shocked that not only her and her husband attended their daughter’s away games, but that Cydney’s grandparents went, too. Even when her name was announced at the 7th Annual North-South High School All-Star Basketball Classic on April 4, Cydney said the emcee said to her “All these people are here for you?”
That trend won’t end next season—even though Cydney will be an ocean away. Luckily for her, HPU plays several games in the Bay Area. While she’s looking forward to the college experience and meeting new people, joining the Sea Warriors tops the list.
“Coach Reid and the HPU girls just play a super fast, uptempo game and that’s how I love to play,” Cydney said. “It’s up and down the floor, quick, not a lot of stops. I love playing the transition game, so when I watched them play I absolutely fell in love.”
While the village may have had a huge hand in shaping the young woman she’s become, Cathy said at the end of the day Cydney deserves all the credit.
“It’s only because of her,” Cathy said. “Because if she wasn’t the person that she was and attract the people that she does in our lives, we wouldn’t be here today. You can have this great athlete, this great student, but if you don’t have the attitude that Cydney does, it doesn’t mean anything.”
