Juan Urresti is a student at ASU's Cronkite School of Journalism assigned to cover Valley Christian by AZPreps365.com

After the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, there was uncertainty if Jaden De Boer would have a chance to finish his last season at a Washington high school.

At the same time, Roger De Boer, Jaden’s father who owned an apparel for high school sports, watched how his business was impacted after the pandemic shut down schools. 

The De Boer family made the decision to move to Arizona, a business decision at first, which also brought light to an eager young boy’s basketball career. 

De Boer’s season was one to remembe at Vzlley Christian.

“It was one of the most successful seasons I’ve ever had,” De Boer said. “Being a brand new kid from the state of Washington I feel grateful that everyone accepted me really well.” 

In addition to De Boer being 3A Metro West Conference Player of the Year, he was Regional Most Outstanding Player, was selected to the Arizona All-State Team and earned State Player of the Year honors.  

The 6-1 senior shooting guard averaged 22.7 points while shooting 46 percent from the field and 45 percent from downtown. 

Valley Christian had a 17-0 run before losing in the quarterfinals against Gilbert Christian High School 72-71 in a game in which De Boer scored a season high 37 points and reached 1,000 career points.

“I feel super blessed and grateful that I got that type of recognition,” said De Boer. “Definitely couldn’t have done it without the acceptance from the coaching staff and everyone from Valley.”

De Boer’s father said, “For us as parents the extra by-product of making a move [to Arizona]  for our work, was the fact that our boy did get the chance to play basketball this year and college coaches got to see video and tape of him which helped his recruitment process as well.” 

Basketball has been around the De Boer family for a while. De Boer’s father is a member of the Hall of Fame in the state of Washington after coaching for over 30 years. 

Jaden and his father got the chance to be on the same team as coach and player at Lynden Christian High School, Jaden’s last school in the northwest. However, treatment wasn’t different than to the other players. 

“I coached with a great group of guys that really understood why it was that we were there and we just enjoyed it,” De Boer’s father said. 

However, the time spent together on the same team wasn’t the only influence on De Boer’s game. One of the first places he was taken to was a gymnasium. 

“Jaden was in a gymnasium probably from the time he was a few weeks old until now, he grew up in a basketball family and he grew up around the game,” De Boer’s father said. “He was introduced to the gymnasium and the basketball game at a really young age.”

From there it was all about basketball and the love for the game. 

“He discovered he liked it really early, it’s funny, we have pictures of him playing on a three on three tournament when he was in kindergarten, so you can tell he really loved the game,” De Boer’s father said. 

The challenge of moving to a new state, team and environment added more experience for De Boer’s career as well as new capacities and techniques to his game. 

“Washington has a shot-clock, so we played a lot faster up in Washington,” Jaden said. “Playing here taught me defensively to lock in a little bit more.”

De Boer’s adaptation with his new teammates was easy. He encountered an unselfish group of players who welcomed him with open arms. 

“We had 10 seniors on the team, so usually you would think we had not very good chemistry or something like that, like people mad at kids coming in and taking their time and stuff, but no one was like that at all,” De Boer said. “Everyone was super accepting of me coming in.”

Having the support from his parents was also key to De Boer’s performance in the court throughout his career.

“We as parents, the thing that is really important for us is that we want them to pursue whatever it is that’s their dream,” De Boer’s father said. “When he experiences success in the thing he loves the most it is obviously great for us as parents and of course we are very proud he has excelled in something he loves so much.”

De Boer’s arrival at Valley Christian not only helped the team to have one of its best seasons, but also stepped up the level of the team. One of the happiest about his arrival was head coach and athletic director Greg Haagsma. 

“Jaden is a fierce competitor, he is some sort of a perfectionist, he wants to succeed all the time and he is a very hard worker,” Haagsma said. “He is in the gym all the time trying to improve his shooting and obviously that's evidence because he is a very good shooter.” 

De Boer adapted well while learning to play better defense. 

“You can play defense forever here in Arizona, so it benefited me defensively for sure,” Jaden said. 

De Boer’s achievements were taken as a triumph of the entire team and the coaching staff. 

“It’s always gratifying for a program to have individuals that are rewarded with individual success, obviously Jaden would have been the first one to tell you he would rather have a state championship than any individual award,” Haagsma said. “But just like everything else, it takes a little bit of luck to win a state title, but is very nice that our players are recognized for their hard work.”

Despite not winning the state championship, the Trojans swept the region awards in the 2021 season. Haagsma was named coach of the year, while Jacob Rice won offensive player of the year and Tanner Hughez won defensive player of the year. 

Rice and De Boer were recognized with the “shield award” at Valley Christian for being MVP and CO-MVP of the season. In a recent tweet, Rice called his relationship with De Boer his “brother for life, my family.”

In a short period of time De Boer successfully managed to create a strong relationship with his teammates. It was only a year, but what a year. 

“Jaden is a great person and a great kid,” Haagsma said. “Here at Valley Christian is all about each other.”

De Boer will continue pursuing his dreams, while playing at the next level at Western Washington University beginning in the 2021-2022 season. 

Hard work paid off for Jaden De Boer.