Junior Addi Koch has been playing basketball for the past three years. 

Koch’s basketball journey started in Bend, Oregon playing for Three Peaks Performance basketball club. As a new  transfer student this is her first year on the La Salle team, which she believes is different from playing for a club team as “there’s more of a family environment and school spirit,” she said. “It’s just more welcoming.”  

She started playing because her parents encouraged her to try something new and because of her height. 

Throughout the years, her grandpa has remained a constant source of inspiration for her to continue playing, as he is supportive of her and has been there to watch her play. “I feel like I really look up to the fact that he’s there to support me,” she said.

Koch describes the community on the team as being good and says that all her teammates are supportive.  

When it comes to team bonding for the girls basketball team there’s always a preseason beach trip, team dinners before games, and spending time together before games. 

This year’s beach trip has been Koch’s favorite memory so far, as all new members of the team, including the coaches, took a polar plunge in the ocean. They originally were told this was a tradition for newcomers to do, yet this was the first year for it to happen. “It was so cold,” Koch said while giggling. 

For this season, Koch’s goals are to “get better at posting up and really just playing the job I need to on the team,” she said.

Unlike other players, before games Koch prefers to not listen to music because she finds that music tends to take her out of the playing mood. 

The only pre-game superstition Koch has is with her hair. She makes sure to not repeat a hairstyle that she previously wore when the team lost a game. 

As for practice, Koch likes to take notice of the things she’s wearing, especially if it was a good practice performance-wise for herself. She will then try and wear these certain items again so she can continue to have good practices in the future.

Koch describes practices as being a lot of repetition, making sure plays are known, and just overall getting better.

For the season itself, “it’s been going great,” Koch said. So far throughout the season, the team has played both 6A schools and the schools in their league, leading to a diverse experience. With the 6A games, they have been able to hold their own, and with the league games they are “getting the job done,” she said. As of Feb. 7, the team’s league record is 6-2.  

Koch is looking forward to playing Wilsonville High School again later in the season. 

Since she transferred, Koch is currently taking physics, which is her favorite class at the moment. English teacher and department chair Mr. Paul Dreishbach is her favorite teacher because “he’s really joyful,” she said. 

Koch finds balancing school and basketball to be difficult right now, especially because the team tends to have late practices, but she is finding how to do it by limiting distractions.