Its 9:30 p.m. on a Tuesday night and the girls basketball team is furiously

practicing in the big gym. Despite the heavy homework load and other outside commitments, the team stays focused and determined during their practices by giving all their attention to the game. All of these practices are under the supervision and support of head coach Scott Peters.

The Palo Alto High School girls basketball team went undefeated in its 2014-2015 season and advanced to the open division playoffs for the first time in Paly basketball history.

Peters has been the head coach of the girls basketball program since 2007, with his team playing in the highest division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) league. In 2011, Peters coached his team to the Central Coast Section (CCS)  division 1 championship.

In the 2014-2015 season, Peters and his team went 12-0 in league and 22-5 overall in their season. Because of the team’s performance during the season, it qualified for the CCS open division playoffs where the team fell to St. Ignatius and Scotts Valley. The Vikings then advanced to the division 1 California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Northern California (NorCal) basketball playoffs.

Peter’s dedication to the game has been shown through his eight years of coaching at Paly and his competitive mindset, “I’m competition based,” Peters said.  “I love competing and all the preparations that go into competing. Its very exciting and motivating to work hard at a sport and see the work pay off.”

Peters owes a lot of his coaching success to be driven from the girls basketball teams themselves.

“These girls are the tightest team I think I have ever been around. They desperately want it and to help each other and the team do well” Peters said. “Myself and the assistant coaches love getting to coach them; they are a great group of girls.”

Starter Courtney Lovely (‘16) tells how she has developed a relationship with Peters on and off the court, “Scott is like my uncle” Lovely said. “We have times when he’s like my coach and we have a serious relationship, but we also have a really fun joking relationship off the court, he’s really awesome.”

Peters expresses his love for the game and the team he coaches, “They keeps me coming back every year. I love to help them enjoy the game of basketball.”

Lovely reiterates how Peters is their for the team no matter what the outcome of the games are, “He really believes in us no matter what” Lovely said. “He gives us a ton of confidence even if we lose.”

The Viking takes great honor in awarding Scott Peters with the Coach of the Year award for his determination in pushing his team to be the best and to being their for the players as a coach and a mentor. He brings his past experience in basketball to practice everyday and has the best interest of every player in mind.