Pioneer Athlete Spotlight on Anjanette (AJ) Taguinod, CVCHS
Name: Anjanette (AJ) Taguinod
Grade: Senior
School: Clayton Valley Charter High School
Sports: Basketball & Tennis
Determined player Taguinod uses tactics, defensive skills and jumping to work around her taller opponents and earn her impressive numbers for Ugly Eagles basketball who are again in the North Coast Section playoffs this month. She has been on Clayton Valley Charter’s girls varsity basketball team for the past three years after playing her freshman year on junior varsity. The shooting guard, who occasionally plays at point, hit 27% of three-point shots and 76% of free throws last year, which are close to the averages in the NBA.
At CVCHS she earned the Most Improved Player award and her coach Damian Young notes, “In my short tenure coaching AJ, she has been an absolute joy to coach. She has an amazing attitude and is one of, if not the, hardest worker on our team. She will be extremely missed and her future is incredibly bright!” In her off seasons, Taguinod played two years on the East Bay Sparks AAU team and spent last summer playing for an AAU sqaud led by Clayton Valley coaches.
Tennis
In addition to basketball, Taguinod has an impressive background in tennis at CVC as well. After playing on junior varsity, she moved up to varsity her junior and senior years, earning first-team all-Diablo Athletic League as a junior in doubles and second team all-DAL in singles this past fall. Taguinod earned the Up and Comers, Most Improved Player and Captain awards.
As a kid, she played both basketball and tennis as well as participating in baseball, swimming and track and field shot put and high jump events, all of which helped her gain important skills. Taguinod balances a heavy school workload on top of her athletics with a 4.3 GPA. She is a member of CVCHS’s Engineering and Design Academy along with Cheer the Children, Senior Women and Envelopes for Elderly clubs. Taguinod plans to major in mechanical engineering in college and pursue a career as a mechanical design engineer.
CVCHS student journalist Corinne Jeandheur wrote this Spotlight.
The Pioneer congratulates AJ and thanks Athlete Spotlight sponsors Dr. Laura Lacey & Dr. Christopher Ruzicka who have been serving the Clayton and Concord area for over three decades at Family Vision Care Optometry.
Do you know a young athlete who should be recognized? Perhaps he or she has shown exceptional sportsmanship, remarkable improvement, or a great heart for the sport. Send your nomination for the Pioneer Athlete Spotlight today to sports@pioneerpublishers.com.
Corinne Jeandheur
Corinne Jeandheur is a senior at Clayton Valley Charter High School. She runs on the CVCHS cross country team in the fall as well as competing on the track and field team in the spring. She also plays the piano and bakes in her free time. Jeandheur is a member of the CVCHS Engineering and Design Academy and concluded her sophomore year with a 4.33 GPA. She is serving as co-president of the California Scholarship Federation at Clayton Valley Charter this school year and continuing her academic and community involvement in the National Honor Society. She is very pleased to be writing the monthly Athlete Spotlight for the Pioneer.