On Saturday my 10 year old daughter Eva and I had the opportunity to watch the Piedmont High women’s basketball team play in Sacramento.  Eva’s on her fifth grade basketball team at Turtle Bay School in Redding.  I graduated from Piedmont High School in 1972.  Eva attended the game wearing her grandfather’s (Art Hecht’s) Piedmont High School rooter jacket. Neither one of us had ever seen anything as magnificent as the beautiful game the Piedmont women played that night.  The athleticism was amazing.  The tenacity to struggle from behind and win decisively was inspirational.  The most impressive feature we observed, that moved us deeply, was that the athletes truly loved each other, worked as a family of sisters, and put forth fabulous effort for each other.  We were both thrilled and proud. Please express our thanks to the team.

And there is no doubt, they did achieve the honorable!

 Since that time the women’s basketball team has ended their brilliant run for this year.  It would have been nice if they had gone to the State Championship game and won it, but it doesn’t matter.  As I later wrote to Superintendent Hubbard, those young women and their coaches have created something very special and beautiful, and they deserve recognition. Their intensity and focus were awe inspiring. The harmonious union they built is wonderful. They are and always will be champions.            Stephen Hecht

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