Basketball season was a roller coaster of emotions for Santa Ana High coach Fareed ElMasry

Santa Ana High’s successful 2018-19 basketball season was a roller coaster of emotions for its head coach Fareed ElMasry. (Photos: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone)

In Arabic the name “Fareed” means “unique.” If there is anything that summarizes the 2018-19 season for Santa Ana High head boys basketball coach and math instructor Fareed ElMasry, it is “unique.”

On Jan. 29, Santa Ana went into its Orange Coast League match-up against leader Costa Mesa with an opportunity to remain in the hunt for a share of league championship. Just about 36 hours before that ElMasry’s wife, Victoria, was delivering the couple’s second child, Ezequiel.  That didn’t stop the coach from attending the game that his Saints lost 75-64.

“That was definitely an odd time for me. I wasn’t able to go to practice on Monday and we played Costa Mesa on Tuesday,” said ElMasry. “We had a really bad second quarter, but we pulled within three points in the fourth quarter. We just didn’t close it out. I was so disappointed, but then I went immediately back to the hospital where my wife was just coming off from cesarean surgery.”

That was just one of the many incidents full of adversity that ElMasry had to confront during this 10^th year coaching high school basketball.

Before the season tipped off, ElMasry had to overcome a tougher loss. His mother Gilberte passed away on Sept. 26, leaving the coach with a lot of emotions to deal with before his team’s first game.

“This was definitely the most difficult season I’ve ever had in coaching,” ElMasry said. “My mother became extremely ill at the end of June and she passed away in September. It was devastating because her and I were so close. She’s the one who encouraged me to pursue my career in education and athletics.”

The time was difficult for ElMasry as he wasn’t able to attend many of the Saints’ practices or scrimmages and heavily relied on his assistant Maurice “Mo” Aguilar to fill in his role during his absence. With his wife and sister both expecting, there was a lot going on for ElMasry and his family, and he had to find solutions quickly.

“My family and extended family were all so supportive during that time. I really was able to get through it because of the people around me.
he said. “Maurice, my wife, my sister, my father, my friends and my aunt and uncle were there every step of the way, and they are still supporting me.

“I wouldn’t have made it through without them. When I thought I had all the support in the world, my entire basketball team shows up to my mother’s wake and rosary. I was so touched and felt so blessed to have amazing boys on my team. Most of them never met my mother, but they came to pay their respects. That really hit me. That helped me through the adversity.”

While things looked blurry in his personal life, ElMasry also saw dilemmas on the court. Santa Ana had started the season with a record of 1-6, and he had to find solutions quickly to try to overturn the Saints’ dismal beginning. He had a solid core of players returning from the previous year (Jesus Silva, Saay Silva, Jerry Estrella, Sebastian Olvera and Adrian Barba), but the results didn’t start to improve until he managed to recruit members of the Saints football team (Drew Ramirez, Nick Larriva and Julian Gómez).

“It was wave after wave of different emotions,” he said. “The beginning was rough. I wasn’t around to help prepare for the season and I feel like that contributed to our slow start. The first seven or eight games were definitely frustrating for all players and coaches. I think our season really turned around when we added a few players and got rid of some players. It was almost like making a trade.

“That’s when the ‘ups’ started happening,” said ElMasry. “When people think of Santa Ana, they generally think of negative things. I told our players if they want the perception to change than we have to do it with how we play. Since there is such a bad stigma surrounded by us, I decided to just use that as a way to coach. We have to be tougher than every team we play. We can’t afford to be out-hustled, out-rebounded, and we have to have the most effort.”

Once Orange Coast play began the Saints started to click as a unit, and in spite of a 2-2 league start they went on to compile quality home wins against league favorites Costa Mesa (59-54) and Estancia (49-48).

“Fareed is a great coach, but an even better person,” said Drew Ramirez about his basketball coach. “He’s very detailed in his coaching and expects each player to play with the right attitude and give his best effort. Fareed asked me to join during football season, and I promised I would even though I had never played at the high school level. I believe him and I live by the same moral ‘if you have the right work ethic anything is possible.’ We worked hard all season and I think it paid off. It was a fun season.”

Santa Ana principal Jeff Bishop also praises ElMasry’s efforts on the court and in the classroom.

“I refer to coaches in two ways, ‘coach-teacher” or ‘teacher-coach,'” Bishop said. “Fareed is the latter because he connects their experiences in basketball to their lives both personally and academically off the court. Both Fareed and Coach Mo work tirelessly in the off season to create the conditions whereas they evolve as a tight ‘family.’

“If you like what you see on the court, you ought to spend a day in his classroom, Wow. Fareed passionately puts his soul behind everything he does whether it’s teaching, coaching, collaborating with his colleagues in the math Department, or being a new father. Fareed is another example of the opportunity and excellence that exists at Santa Ana High School on a daily basis. I love that this guy is a member of my Saint Staff.”

Santa Ana (16-14, 7-3) was able to finish in second place in the league, earning a spot in the CIF playoffs, something that the Saints had not achieve since 2013.

The Saints were able to defeat Tarbut V’ Torah of Irvine 65-38 in the first round of the Division 5AA playoffs. This was the first time Santa Ana won a playoff game with ElMasry at the helm.

The Saints were knocked out in the next round, falling to Riverside County Education Academy 64-61 in overtime.

“Going into overtime, we couldn’t match their height and athleticism,” the coach said. “They were bigger and faster than us. We had a chance to tie the game to go into overtime with a baseline out of bounds play, but we missed the shot as time expired. It was a good game and I was proud of the way our boys played. They left everything on the floor.”

“This is definitely up there in terms of memorable seasons. It’s statistically my best at Santa Ana in terms of league placing, overall record, and CIF wins. The 2012-13 was a great team as well, which was the only other team that made the playoffs during my tenure at Santa Ana. I also had a player go on to play Division 2 basketball from that team.

“But this year the boys really stepped up and showed mental toughness, so I will always remember this team. We just had so much fun, and the boys really came together. They were so enjoyable to watch because of their tenacity.”

For next season, ElMasry will have to confront another challenge right of the bat, and that’s building a competitive team after losing the majority of his players to graduation. But he is confident that his returning players learned a lot from his senior class.

“The seniors showed our young guys that the game is never over until the final buzzer, and that was a great way to help build a winning mentality to our program.”

Before moving on to 2019-20,  ElMasry (a Servite High and Cal State Fullerton alum), will enjoy the off season with his home team led by his wife Victoria, who he met while getting his teaching credential, and their now expanded household with his two-year-old daughter Elaina and their latest family addition Ezekiel.

-Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone