The First Person To Lead A School and City To A State Title!

BURBANK - No one is busier these days than coach Bryan Camacho. The 36-year old Fil-Am serves as Bellarmine-Jefferson High School of Burbank jack-of-all-trades, an athletic director, physical education teacher and men and women’s basketball coach.

You’d think with so much responsibility, Camacho would be stressed out. He’s also studying for another masters degree in Athletic Administration.

But the increased responsibility for the school and personal development hasn’t had a negative on him or his responsibilities to the teams he coaches.

In other words, he wouldn’t have it any other way. “I love what I do,” said Camacho with a grin, to the Asian Journal. “There are a lot of people who hate going to work. I don’t even see my job as work. Everyday I wake up and I’m happy when I come in.

“In order to be great, you have to take pride in what you do and do it with enthusiasm” he added. “That’s what I do.” And that’s what he’s done at Bell-Jeff.

Camacho, a Bell-jeff alumni class of 1992, has brought greatness, high enthusiasm  and passion for a once dormant women’s basketball program. Before he took over the Bell-Jeff women’s team three years ago (his second stint with the program), the team was 9-48, he said.

He’s turned them around fully culminating last year when the 2008-2009 Lady Guards captured the CIF State Basketball Division V CHampionship - the first championship in any sport ever in Burbank city history.

“It was definitely a historical season, a season that we will never forget,” he said. “When you have great kids who enjoy competition. love to compete, have a great attitude and work ethic, great things happen. It was definitely a special season last year.”

The team the Lady Guards defeated, Pinewood, was a perennial powerhouse that had captured titles in 1999, 2005 and 2006. The odds were against tiny Bell-Jeff but they overcame them.

It was the first time, Bell-Jeff was in a championship game and they took full advantage of their opportunity. the team finished the season 34-1, a school record.

Not bad for a tiny Catholic school with only 306 students.

Filipino Flavor

There’s something else unique about the Bell-Jeff Lady Guards basketball team last year.

Camacho, whose family is originally from Ilocus Sur, wasn’t the only Filipino on the championship team. He had three Filipina girls who played an integral part of the team’s historic championship run.

Two of the three Filipinas - Shelley Gupilan and Margeaux Gupilan  - made the All-Staate and All CIF basketball team. Camacho said those girls were the leaders, the strength and the foundation of the basketball program.

He said it’s time for Filipino basketball fans to realize that Filipinas can play basketball too.

“Those strong  Pinay, young women act as role modles for future young girls in our community,” he said.

Shelley Gupilan graduated this past year and accepted a full ride scholarship to Fresno Pacific University. Margeaux Gupilan has scholarship offers to several universities, according to Camacho.

Camacho said he brings Filipino flavor and the Filipino spirit to the teams he coaches. “I think that’ what people love when they watch us play,” he explains. “Our tenacity, enthusiasm, work ethic, our toughness and to me, that’s the base and foundation of our Filipino people.”

He added another characteristic he stresses to his team is becoming a family, which is another Filipino trait. “When I coach these kids, it’s not just about basketball or X’s and O’s,” he said. “It’s about coaching the whole person and for the team to create a bond, That’s important in order to be a success.”

Repeat

The 2009-2010 high school basketball season is about a month old and the Bell-Jeff boys’ and girls’ teams have won early season tournaments already. The season is still young and Camacho hopes to continue the momentum from last year’s championship run.

He said his goal is for Bell-Jeff to become a small school basketball powerhouse.

And most importantly, as a Filipino, he wants to represent the community.

He said it’s all about making a difference and having young Filipino boys and girls use basketball as a catalyst for future success in life.

Joseph Pimentel - Asian Journal