Nik Hall is a student at ASU's Cronkite School of Journalism assigned to cover North Canyon by AZPreps365.com

Transfers, cancellation, and a resurrection of a season made North Canyon’s Mae Dieguez and Jaida Steward realize how important it is to be a part of the girls' basketball family. 

Dieguez and Steward share a lot in common. They share the court, the ball, the highs, and the lows, and both have Kobe Bryant as their favorite player of all time. But they both share something in common that differenciates them from the rest of their team. They are the leaders of the 3-7 Rattlers and both transferred to North Canyon prior to this season.  

From early on in their lives, both players realized they had a naturally born love for basketball.  

“Jaida eats, sleeps and breathes basketball,” Jaida’s mother Laura said. “I think she was born to play basketball. Shes the youngest in our family. Shes the only girl with three boys and her brothers all play basketball. She played church ball growing up and she was the only girl out there playing with all the boys.” 

Dieguez fell in love with the game because there were girls in her class when she was in fifth grade who were playing basketball. She’s been playing basketball ever since.  

Dieguez and Stewart met over the summer on a club team, and each were drawn to each other by their work ethic.  

“I met Mae and she really pushed me to a different level,” Steward said. “I knew she was special from then on. I knew from then on I had to compete with my own self and step up my own game.”  

Dieguez and Steward realized they weren’t being pushed enough to reach their full potentials at their former high schools until they met coach Levon Brown.  

“He convinced me and Jaida of what his coaching style is like and how much he would push us, “Steward said. “It was everything I wanted. After that, it only took me a week to say I would transfer to North Caynon.”  

“Coach Brown made the team feel like a home,” Dieguez’s mother Amy said. “He showed Mae a lot about team spirit, working together and being a family. Seeing the way he coaches and seeing the environment really convinced me to have Mae look more into transferring.”  

While Jaida, Mae and their parents noticed special traits about coach Brown, Brown noticed something special about Jaide and Mae. He noticed their undeniable work ethic and saw the love of the game in each of them.  

“I always talked about building a program, to build a culture. And part of that was getting more athletes,” Brown said. “We still have work to do. It’s a work in progress and I feel like were going in the right direction. I always preach family. We are a family. No matter what. And just like any family, sometimes you’re gonna have some ups and downs. You might argue a little bit. But at the end of the day, we can come back together and know we’re a family.” 

Mae and Jaida share a tough reality with athletes around the country. The coronavirus constantly threatens the future of this season and beyond.  

Normally during an athlete's junior year is when they would begin to focus on playing in college and begin the recruiting process. The coronavirus makes this hard for players like Mae and Jaida who both have dreams to play basketball in college.  

This didn’t stop coach Brown and his staff from holding practices with their team on any court they could find. Including outside courts in the sweltering heat of summer. 

“If dreams were going to be made, it’s the kids fighting through the summer and fighting through this pandemic,” Amy Dieguez said. “It’s a test on all coaches, it’s a test on all players. To see all these kids out there sweating and doing all they can to improve, they’re dreaming hard to play college ball.” 

Laura Steward echoed Amy’s sentiments and added how grateful she was to have a coaching staff who was willing to do whatever they could to help their players improve despite the challenges.