CYPRESS, CA- Cypress athletics would like to commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11 by sharing the career of Cypress men's basketball alum and recently promoted Army Ranger, Isaac Stell. Isaac played for the Chargers during the 2018-19 season and is currently an Infantryman in the 75th Ranger Regiment based out of Fort Benning, Georgia.
Before Isaac Stell enrolled in the United States Army he led the Cypress Chargers offense as the starting point guard in the 2018-19 season. Isaac played in 28 games for the Chargers where he averaged 9.5 points, three assists, and two rebounds. Stell was a sharp shooter who shot 39% from the three point arc and reached double-digit scoring in 11 games. The sophomore guard scored a season high 21 points in a 77-75 victory over Copper Mountain where he sunk four three pointers.
Coach Andrew Alhadeff is extremely proud of Isaac and says, "After 16 years of coaching you see players take a variety of career paths and my hope as a coach is to inspire my guys to follow their passion and create a career in something that motivates them. Isaac has pursued his goal in the United States Army and through our many conversations I can tell he is extremely excited for the future and his continual progression through the armed forces."
Interview with Isaac Stell
Q1: What led you to pursue a career in the Army after leaving Cypress?
Isaac Stell: "After leaving, Cypress I made the decision to not continue my basketball career and academic career in search of something deeper than sport. Bigger than myself, that lead me directly to wanting to serve this nation. If I could play a small role of any kind in making sure my mother's only problem was how long the line at Starbucks was, and not terror attacks on home soil, I'd be all in."
Q2: What is your most memorable moment from your time at Cypress?
Isaac Stell: "My most memorable moment at Cypress has nothing to do with playing basketball actually. It has to do with meeting a group of men, who were my coaching staff that I grew comfortable with and close too. For many players, you never get to experience a true bond with your coaches, but I got to experience that with my head coach and the assistants.
Q3: Were there any tools you took away from Cypress or Coach Alhadeff that helped prepare you for your career?
Isaac Stell: Competing at everything. Every game and every practice was a chance to compete. In my new line of work it is the same thing. I work in a place now where we have TV monitors all along the walls of the gym that show all of our heart rates, which makes it a competition of who is working out the hardest and who is coasting. When we are at the shooting range, we measure who can group the tightest, shoot the fastest, and when we leave it is a foot race back home. So competing is my biggest takeaway, and man do I love competing.
Q4: What is your career goal?
Isaac Stell: "My career goal is to be the absolute strongest and fastest I can be to serve my country. To give the regiment and this country the rest of my prime and love every moment of it. There is a quote I follow on a daily basis and it is, "Readily will I display, the intestinal fortitude required, to fight on to the Ranger objective, and complete the mission, though I be the lone survivor." RLTW! (Rangers Lead The Way).
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