Playing basketball ever since he was in the sixth grade, Diamond Bar High School social studies teacher Christian Calero has developed a lifelong passion for the sport and continued participating in the sport up until three years ago.

Calero began playing basketball on a competitive level when he joined the junior varsity team during his sophomore year at Alta Loma High School in Rancho Cucamonga. As a member of the varsity team in his junior and senior years, he was the starting power forward and served as captain during his senior year.

“We weren’t that good as a team. But I realized early on that I wanted to be good and worked hard towards it,” Calero said.

During his sophomore and junior year, Calero devoted himself to the sport, spending all his time on practicing to get better.

“I knew there was a guy that was better than me out there, and I wanted to beat him. I wanted to beat those athletes by working hard,” Calero said.

However, his motivation and devotion to the sport plummeted after sustaining a broken ankle injury during the summer of his junior year. Calero attended an All-Star basketball camp held in Las Vegas and sustained a slight injury to his leg. Instead of waiting the recommended week for the injury to heal, the high school athlete waited just two days before playing again and broke his ankle.

“I wasn’t able to play anymore and it was hard to keep the motivation and keep making good decisions because you don’t get [better]. When my foot healed in my senior year, my heart wasn’t all the way in it. Other things became interesting to me,” Calero said.

After graduating high school in 1989, Calero attended Cal State San Bernardino, where he played daily intramural matches. Despite occasionally scoring over 40 points in the matches and having the coach recommend Calero to join the college team multiple times, Calero didn’t try out.

“Honestly, I lost the love and feeling. The motivation was gone. I got into some other thing and that’s life, that’s what the Lord has for us,” Calero said.

However, Calero has dabbled in coaching basketball. When he was 18, he coached a team of seven to eight year olds. After college, he served as the assistant coach at Rancho Cucamonga High School and Cathedral High School.

It was after graduating that Calero spent more time playing basketball in pick-up games at the beach, parks, and gyms.

“As a basketball player, I got the ball and I see the hoop and I see the guy in front of me and I think about what I have to do to get the ball in the hoop. To me, that was always very exciting because as soon as you did it, you have to do it again and again. To me, it was the love of the game,” Calero said.

Although the DBHS teacher has stopped playing, basketball has changed his perspective on the importance of wanting to improve–and win–a lesson that resonates with him even now.

“There’s nothing wrong with looking at someone and wanting to beat them, although there’s definitely a wrong and right way to do it. Even though I don’t play anymore and I won’t ever play again because I’m too old, basketball will always be a part of me. Ball is life. It’s part of who I am.”