Inglewood senior guard Siobhan Baltazar loves being a mentor to her teammates. She is passionate about basketball and desires to keep progressing in the sport. Baltazar has a great relationship with her teammates, she mentioned how they have great attitudes.
“They take constructive criticism very well, they help me be a better person, I teach them because everybody is at a different level of basketball,” Baltazar said. “They are very patient with me, I’m patient with them and it’s fun teaching them.”
Baltazar started playing varsity in the 10th grade. The starting guard on the Inglewood girls’ basketball team at that time taught her important leadership tactics.
“She showed a lot of patience with us, and she was a great leader,” Baltazar said. “I picked up a lot of good skills.”
Baltazar appreciates the sisterhood her teammates provide. While she loves academics, her favorite part of the day is basketball practice.
At the beginning of this season, some of her teammates transferred to other schools. Baltazar had to help the Sentinels rebuild.
“I’m one of the main leaders that was left, but I decided to be loyal to Inglewood. I love Inglewood, I want to finish out my last year,” she said. “It was challenging but now I’m super happy that I stayed, best thing ever. I would not want to be under anybody but the four coaches that we have.”
Baltazar has a strong work ethic on the hardwood and off and enjoys the responsibilities of being a student athlete. Time management helps her excel.
“Grades have to be up there and I want them to be up there,” Baltazar said. “You make time for what’s important to you … I want to go to college, I want to get my degree.”
Another thing that helps Baltazar excel in the classroom is her friends. If any of them get a B, they challenge each other to get an A the next time.
“I have good friends; we all have the same goals to keep our grades up,” Baltazar said. “My friends and I are competitive when it comes to grades … we don’t like failing, that’s not cool for us.”
Baltazar’s favorite classes are PE and journalism. The journalism class taught her the importance of rereading and the PE class taught her about the different muscles in the human body.
“I love reading now, it’s weird. Ninth grade, I did not like reading,” she said. “We’re learning about your calves and your abs … all your muscles and everything.”
Along with academics and athletics, Baltazar is an active member of Grace Temple Missionary Baptist Church. She sings for the choir and youth choir, she also helps her grandmother, evangelist Betty King, with mission work and bake sales.
“I have a personal relationship with God and it helps me with faith, to walk by faith and not by sight, so you got to pray a lot and read my Bible,” Baltazar said. “Gospel music is very therapeutic, I listen to that in the morning, pray in the morning … just try to keep God on my mind and positivity on my mind all through the day.”
