The Sunnyside High School Girls Basketball Program has endured much success over the last few seasons under leadership of Head Coach Justin Delgado. This year’s team has Coach Delgado’s father, Pete, as an assistant and twin daughters Lexi and Gabi Delgado in his backcourt. This roster of family truly makes the program a family affair, which gives solid tight knit chemistry among the players and staff. Even Coach’s wife, Llahaira, is involved in supporting the family closely at games and practices.
A coach’s spouse is one of the toughest positions, as they often become nearly single parents during the season, as a coach works long hours Monday through Saturday. Then Sundays, most coaches are wiped out, catching up on rest, putting together practice or game plans, or helping with their student-athletes college recruitment. Coach Delgado surely does a great job and understands the labor of love in coaching.
Delgado and I go way back, as we have known each other for nearly (10) years. We coached against each other earlier in our coaching careers at the junior high level. He coached at Baboquivari Middle School, and I was at Eloy Junior High School. His teams were always disciplined and competed at a high level, especially on defense. In coaching against each other, the matchups were exciting and intense as we have similar philosophies. Fast forward a few years, and Coach Delgado worked his way to being a Varsity High School Coach with his first stop with the Baboquivari High School program, before accepting the Girls Head Varsity position at Sunnyside High School.
He led his team to playoff appearances in all of the seasons at Sunnyside. He embraced the new challenges of jumping from 4A to 6A in his tenure. As of Thursday night, his Lady Blue Devils defeated Tucson Magnet. That win put the Blue Devils’ region record to 6-0 to win the 6A South Title free and clear.
I am excited to be monitoring his team’s progress, as this year’s strong core of players are looking to make a deep playoff run for the 6A state championship.
