Carmen Avedian is a senior at Glendale High School. She has always loved playing with her community, having grown up in Glendale. She also likes to paint, listen to music, and play basketball in her free time. This is Carmen’s final year as the varsity girls basketball team’s captain. 

Since she started playing basketball at the age of four, Carmen has had a deep love for the game. Her motivation came primarily from her father and brother, who had played basketball for nearly their whole lives. Carmen’s father coaches the Ararat girl’s basketball team, which she has played for since she was a young girl.

Carmen’s father is her biggest fan and supporter; he has always encouraged her to pursue her basketball career. Around elementary school, Carmen participated in dance and gymnastics, but her father never had her concentrate only on “girly” activities. After she stopped dancing, her father focused on coaching her and assisting her with guarding, rebounding, shooting, and other skills.

Carmen’s main position is as a guard, and she can play as both a shooting and point guard. Carmen knows that she can shoot, defend, and drive to the basket. Therefore, she can play either guard position, as she is the best passer and dribbler on the squad and can direct the offense.

As captain, Carmen’s first goal is to avoid being judgmental of her teammates when they make mistakes. She believes that when they do make errors, they notice them and attempt to correct them, but when they keep making the same mistakes, she offers advice or calls attention to them. The gratitude Carmen receives from her teammates is the greatest cause of happiness for her. She feels very joyful when they thank her for her dedication to the team.

Carmen thought that her first year as captain was more like a trial for her. As a junior, she was still learning how it felt to be a leader, by growing, admiring other captains, and representing her teammates well.

For Carmen, it’s important to communicate and have a strong relationship with her teammates and coaches. She believes that all coaches will be able to relate to you better when you speak with them because they will know where you’re coming from and how serious and mature you are about your role as captain.

Carmen recently completed her final year of varsity play at GHS, and her senior and freshman years were her proudest moments. She played fantastic defense to help her team win during her first year. In her fourth year, her team came within a point of defeating Crescenta Valley High School, but she was still happy with her performance and proud of the way that the game proceeded.

Carmen is proud that she has truly created strong relationships with everyone on her team, and she has had their trust when they needed her. If the team, for some reason, was lost and stressed out, Carmen acted as the glue to keep them together, and she tried to gather whatever they needed to prepare for each practice or game.

However, one struggle Carmen has had as an athlete concerns her height. As basketball players tend to be taller, Carmen feels that her height difference is one of her biggest weaknesses, especially when it comes to shooting, defending, or passing against someone taller than her. 

Carmen was also crushed when she caught the flu towards the end of this season. She was quite emotional because these were her last few games as a Nitro and she was unable to play. But she did try to pull through, especially in the CIF Playoffs, where they unfortunately lost in their first-round matchup.. 

During Carmen’s four years on the girl’s basketball team, they had their greatest winning percentage in a long time, and the varsity team has had winning seasons almost every year. This makes her feel incredibly proud.

Recently, Carmen found out that she was awarded first-team all-league in the Pacific League. She is also a semi-finalist for the Pat Navolanic Memorial Award.

Following her high school graduation, Carmen will attend Glendale Community College, and she plans to join the Vaquero women’s basketball team. For Carmen, basketball is everything; it’s essentially her greatest joy. Therefore, she will be devastated if she cannot continue to play after high school.

Carmen is aware that basketball is not going to be her career objective, as she hopes eventually to enroll at Woodbury University and major in architecture. She may also attend either USC or UC Santa Barbara. 

If you are interested in joining next year’s girls’ basketball team, please contact Coach Tadeh Mardirosian at [email protected]. 

Hoop it up, Nitros!