DVHS varsity womens basketball kicks off the season with returning head coach Kris Birco in preparation for the East Bay Athletic League (EBAL). With the momentum of their previous season, Birco acknowledged the difficulty of the past season, but expressed his faith in the team’s overall work ethic.
“The pressure’s there, but I tell the kids, pressure makes diamonds,” Birco exclaimed.
Birco liked the current starting lineup, which included four returning starters and six returning players overall.
“We just need to fill in our bench, and I plan to go deeper into our lineup this year,” Birco said. “But it’s still early, so we got a lot of kinks to work out in the system.”
Senior Captain Kiera Tom also expressed confidence in the current lineup, especially when it came to the incoming freshmen.
“We have a lot of good freshmen, and they’re going to have to play really big roles,” Tom explained. “But it’s not different than last year, because three of the freshmen were in the starting lineup…it’s nothing new. It’s just adapting to the same routine over and over again.”
In the previous years, the team’s attitude toward basketball was more laid-back and relaxed.. However, that changed when Birco came in as a part of the new coaching staff in June 2024. At that time, he set a new standard for the players, encouraged them to work harder and improve their attitude when it came to the team.
“Are you here to just play, or do you love the game, or do you want to be successful? You got to ask them that first,” Birco explained. “Once you lay down the ground rules and the groundwork to become successful, the kids have to buy in. Once they buy in, then it can lead to success.”
This mindset change led to the team having a successful 2024-2025 season, and fueled them to the Division III NCS playoffs. As a result, both Tom and senior player Bhavana Manivannan believe that the team has benefitted from the increased discipline.
“We’re always compared to the boys,” Manivannan explained. “So I think that it was a good moment to redefine who we actually were as a program.”
Since he was previously focused on improving the team as a whole, Birco aims to tweak the strategy of the 2025=26 season. This season, he planned on implementing a less strict, more flowing structure than beforehand.
“It was kind of because I was at Granada [for the previous 2023-2024 season]. We played Dougherty, and we played most of the kids from last year, and it wasn’t structured. [The team]had no discipline,” Birco admitted. “That’s why I wanted to sit in place last year. So I structured it offensively, defensively, so just the game plan overall has changed.”
He emphasized the importance of learning from losses. and how if they “lose 12 games, we learned [from] 12 games,” in the previous season. Birco hoped that mentality would carry over. However, he also expressed that he was satisfied with the overall results, as long as he knew everyone gave it their all.
“Whatever happens, as long as they put in the effort going forth, then I’m good with that,” Birco exclaimed. “They put in the effort, they gave me their heart, they committed to this program.”
Tom and Manivannan have expressed similar attitudes, but have faith in themselves and their teammates.
“Me and Bhavana have been through the program for all four years and have been the only ones to stick it through for four years so far. So we know what it’s like to be at all time lows,” Tom expressed. “It’s just about being vocal and motivating others on your team.”
Despite his confidence, Birco is aware of how difficult the upcoming season will be. This is especially due to how unpredictable the nature of the league will be.
“EBAL is one of the toughest leagues in Northern California, top to bottom,” he explained. “The bottom feeders may move up a lot, and the top feeders may move down. It’s just really volatile, especially with the talent around this area.”
The players not only share a similar sentiment, but also believe that because of their previously successful season, other teams will likely be preparing to face them much more thoroughly. In the previous season, most schools were expecting to face a less formidable opponent when they were facing the Wildcats.
“It was easier just to come in and surprise teams last year,” Tom explained. “This year we’re definitely gonna have to prepare more, because we know we have a target on our back.”
