Basketball season is well under way here at the Zuni Youth Enrichment Project. Under the direction of 40 community coaches, 200 Zuni youth ages 7-12 are engaged in practices Monday through Thursday at Shiwi Ts’ana Elementary School and Zuni Middle School, with games every Friday evening at Zuni High School.
The Basketball League is one of ZYEP’s most popular programs, and it draws community members of all ages year after year. Children frequently stay in the program for multiple seasons — as do many of the adult coaches.
Carrie Gashytewa and Sovena Homer got involved in ZYEP’s Basketball League during its inaugural season in 2011. After some time away, they are back on the court this year, and they say they couldn’t be happier about their decision.
Carrie was born and raised in Zuni. She attended elementary and middle school in the pueblo, along with one year of high school before transferring to Rehoboth Christian School in Gallup, New Mexico.
After graduation, she went to college at the University of New Mexico, where she earned a degree in exercise physiology. She went on to earn a Master of Science in Occupational Therapy, and today, she works for Zuni Indian Health Service as an occupational therapist.
“When the ZYEP Basketball League started, some of the Zuni Public School District teachers and I decided to be coaches,” Carrie remembers. “I thought it might be fun.”
Sovena also was born and raised in Zuni, and she attended elementary, middle school and high school here. She pursued business administration in college, but since there were not many jobs in Zuni related to that field, she started working at the local hospital as a medical support assistant.
While working at the hospital, she decided to return to school, attending the University of New Mexico in Gallup for medical coding. She still works at the Zuni IHS hospital as a medical coder today.
“I was working with Dr. Faber (ZYEP’s founder) when he started the program, and he asked me to coach,” Sovena recalls. “I coached every year until maybe 2018.”
“I definitely was involved for more than one season as well,” Carrie says. “My stepson qualified to play, and that was my drive — to have him join the program and play basketball. So I probably coached for six seasons, until he aged out.”
Along the way, Carrie and Sovena started to coach together. While Sovena was an experienced basketball player in her own right, as she played basketball throughout her high school years, Carrie says she most decidedly was not.
“I didn’t play basketball in school, oh no!” she says, laughing. “I had to coach with people like Sovena who had experience. I just wanted to be there for the kids.”
The good memories of their coaching seasons endured. This year, when ZYEP started recruitment for its 2025 coaching team, the friends consulted with one another.
“We hadn’t done it in awhile, but when I asked Sovena about it, we decided to go for it,” Carrie says.
The program, they both acknowledge, is quite different now. In a good way.
“Early on, the organization of the games was more scattered, and as volunteers, we would provide snacks and water for the kids,” Carrie says. “Now, the whole program is more structured, ZYEP provides snacks and water, we have official meetings for coaches and families, and requirements for the coaches include background checks, training, First Aid. All of this is really vital.”
Both women say they enjoy teaching the community’s younger children. Prior to the start of the basketball league in 2011, Sovena coached at St. Anthony Indian School, where her daughter was part of the middle school team.
“When my daughter went on to high school, that’s when I started to coach for ZYEP,”she says. “It’s always great to work with the younger age group, teaching them the fundamentals. One example is using ‘hot potato’ when passing the ball.”
“Then there’s ‘half court,’” Carrie interjects with a smile.
“Yes, teaching them what that all means, and seeing them run down and get into place when they hear ‘half court,’” Sovena agrees with a chuckle.
“Every year, each group has different skill levels,” Carrie observes. “The first thing we have to do is review where they are, and we know we have to spend more one-on-one time with some of them.”
The children come from different backgrounds as well, so the coaches make additional adjustments to ensure that the program is as inclusive as possible. For example, while Zuni language usually is incorporated into the basketball program, Carrie and Sovena modified this for their current team.
“We have several children who do not speak or understand our Zuni language,” Sovena explains. “We don’t want to leave them out by speaking in Zuni to the whole group, so if we do incorporate Zuni language, we tend to do it one-on-one.”
Carrie and Sovena are part of a coaching team of three, along with Joshua Back. They say this gives each of them the room they need to make a contribution based on their own strengths, and they support each other.
“They would ask me what the game plan is for our practice,” Sovena says with a chuckle. “I’ll come up with practice drills, and then Carrie and Joshua will assist in the drills. They are so helpful, and they are great to coach with.”
“There is a tight dynamic between us as coaches,” Carrie shares. “There has to be. Sovena runs the practice, and I get to do my OT stuff. One of our players needs a lot of encouragement. Coaching is so much more fun with my background and love of pediatrics.”
Another key difference in the ZYEP Basketball League today, according to the two coaches: The Zuni community is much more involved now.
“The kids love the energy at the games,” Sovena says. “They bring out the parents, grandparents and whole families to watch!”
“ZYEP did that,” Carrie notes. “They’ve been very helpful, and so good about family involvement. They’ve helped to build community here.”
When Carrie was growing up, the pueblo had a summer program that offered athletics and crafts. She says she was in middle school at the time.
“I thought it was great,” she remembers. “I had somewhere to go to meet people. But then it disappeared, and there was no youth support for a long time. When ZYEP started, I thought, here is a way to build character and community starting at an early age.
“The Basketball League is a good example,” she continues. “The little ones want to do sports, but they don’t have the fundamentals. In this program, they’re given a lot of support.”
“There was not much to do when I was growing up,” Sovena says. “We did have a community swimming pool where I would go, but then that went away. ZYEP is such a great program for the younger ages and our community.”
One thing is clear. These coaches are dedicated to their young players. They want to make sure the children have a good first experience with teamwork as well as with the sport itself, and this starts on Day 1.
“Carrie knows this… I’ll begin with the kids getting to know one another,” Sovena says. “I’ll ask them who’s who, then I’ll do a drill with the team where they say a teammate’s name when bouncing the ball and tag that person with their free hand.”
“I really like doing that, especially because we have kids from different schools and different communities,” she adds. “This year, we even have players from Gallup. The league gives the kids opportunities to make new friends, people they wouldn’t normally meet.”
The coaches acknowledge one final difference with this year’s Basketball League, and it is bittersweet: The children they coached years ago are growing up.
“Sovena and I just talked about this,” Carrie says. “My stepson is a junior in high school now. The youngest kids in the league back then are all in high school, and some are playing varsity basketball.”
“One of the players that I coached in the past is now in the military, and whenever I see him, he still calls me coach,” Sovena says with a smile. “Other players come and give me a hug whenever they see me.”
As much as the Basketball League has meant to the coaches, it clearly means a lot to the players. It matters. And they remember.
“I always felt ZYEP was very supportive of children, and not just because of the sports leagues,” Carrie reflects. “It helps keep our traditions alive, because not all kids have that support at home. It warms my heart when I see these kids continuing that legacy and coming into their own.
“Tyler (Sice, ZYEP’s physical activity coordinator) is probably pulling his hair out right about now, but props to them all,” she says. “When I think about them, I feel gratitude, and I applaud them.”
