Welcoming Kaela Stonebarger to the UPB Player Development Staff!
By: Dylan Tehada
Kaela Stonebarger has shown a true love for hoops throughout her whole life. She first picked up a basketball at the young age of seven and her passion for basketball has grown ever since. Stonebarger and her father shared a bond over basketball early on in her career, and he became a formative mentor and coach in her early years playing ball. After years of learning the game under her dad’s wing, she began her high school career at Mills High School in Millbrae. She made the varsity team early on as a freshman and carved out an impactful role throughout all four years in high school. In her final season as a senior she led her team in points, assists, steals, and 3pt% averaging 15.1 points, 4.4 assists, and 2.2 steals on 30% 3pt shooting.
After a standout high school stint, Stonebarger took her talents to Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon for one year and City College of San Francisco for another year. After these two seasons, she received a scholarship from Multnomah University, an NAIA school in Portland, Oregon and completed her final two collegiate seasons there where she averaged 8.8 points and 3 assists per game. After her college career came to a close, Stonebarger sought a new way to share her love and passion for the game of basketball, which she found through coaching. She is now the coach for her alma mater’s, Mills High School, JV women’s basketball team, and seeks to give back to the next generation of women Bay Area hoopers through this role.
“I'm really passionate about being a coach and giving back to this generation and teaching them the way I learned basketball, which is through teamwork,” Stonebarger said.
In her current role as a Player Development Assistant, Stonebarger seeks to share the lessons she learned from the game and help athletes develop on and off the court. She is a firm believer in basketball being a team sport and not a one man show and strives to instill a team oriented mentality focused on overlooked aspects of the game like communication and defense into the athletes she trains with.
To Stonebarger, teamwork is what makes good teams great and there are ways to teach good team skills to young athletes looking to make an impact on their teams. She carries with her this concept of “Ohana”, which means family, from her high school coach Dave Matsu who stressed the importance of teamwork on a basketball team.
“I feel like to be a good teammate you're sharing the ball, you're encouraging people, you're supporting people…You need everybody to be together and to be a team, so I think impact wise, I want to kind of preach being good teammates, encouraging others, and constantly communicating because I think that's what makes athletes really stand out,” Stonebarger stated.
Throughout her career, Stonebarger has grown on and off the court. She has taken lessons with her that led to success on the court as a basketball player and has even applied those lessons to her current role as a coach and trainer. One lesson she learned at an early age and seeks to instill in athletes who strive to realize their unlimited potential is being comfortable with being uncomfortable. She acknowledges that being uncomfortable means that an athlete is getting better and improving at something, which is what she wants for every athlete she trains with.
“Being comfortable with being uncomfortable is probably what I would tell my younger self, in more simple terms, doing things that I don't necessarily like doing, but knowing it’s going to get me better and help me evolve at another level,” Stonebarger said.
We are so excited to bring Coach Kaela to the team and know that she will showcase her love and passion for the game with everyone she encounters in the UPB Community! In fact, Coach Kaela will be coaching at our upcoming All-Girls 3v3 Tournament with the Women’s coaching Alliance in January! If you and your athlete are interested in forming a team of three and entering the tournament click the link here to learn more!
