Their roles have reversed.
Dad is now the one in the stands, cheering. Whether it’s basketball or track, Dave Weber is always there, pulling for his daughter.
And Sasha Weber, once the little kid on the sideline watching her dad coach college basketball, is now the one popping 3-pointers or sailing over the high jump bar. She’s the two-sport star for Timberline.
She’s already the all-time leading scorer at Timberline and she’s only a junior, averaging 14, 16 and 14 points the last three seasons. She’s also her school’s record holder in the high jump at 5-foot-8. This weekend, Sasha is favored to repeat as the state champ in the high jump.
“I don’t think there was a conscious moment where I thought I should have her follow me around because it’s a good thing,” Dave said. “If I was a chemist, she’d have come to the lab with me. It just happened.”
It happened by necessity.
Dave is a single parent. Just four days after Sasha’s second birthday, her mother, Sheri, died at age 32 of a heart failure caused by a kidney disease.
Not wanting to leave Sasha with a babysitter, Dave brought his daughter to practices as he coached basketball at Patten College in Oakland, Calif. She even accompanied him on road games, sitting behind him as he coached.
“She got to be around basketball all the time,” Dave said. “I think that’s a positive thing. But it would have been better if she had had a mom the whole time growing up.”
That little tag-along daughter has turned into one of the top basketball and track athletes in the state. She gets phone calls almost daily from basketball recruits. She’s been offered basketball scholarships from Oregon State, Arizona State, Gonzaga, UNLV and BYU.
She might declare early.
Even though basketball is her favorite sport, Sasha has blossomed in a sport that isn’t her focus. She missed two dual track meets with slight injuries – a strained hamstring and a twisted ankle. She also missed a couple of major invitationals because of commitments to play in AAU basketball tournaments, including one in North Carolina.
Twice a week, Sasha drives with her dad to Renton for a three-hour practice, starting at 6 p.m. Her track practices end at 4 p.m.
“We just get in the car and go,” Sasha said. “Sometimes I’ll grab a snack after track.”
She usually doesn’t get home until 10ish.
“I think it’s hectic,” Dave said. “It wouldn’t be my choice. But at the end of it she can say she accomplished something.”
At the 3A Narrows League championship, Sasha won three events, earning her the top female athlete of the meet award. She won the high jump, javelin and shot put. She actually tied for first in the triple jump, going 36 feet, 2 inches. But she was awarded second based on the second-best jump.
At the Shaner Invite in Tumwater, Sasha won four events and was named the top female athlete.
While Sasha says basketball is her favorite sport, her track coach, Todd Taylor, isn’t convinced it’s her best sport. He thinks she just might have more potential in track as a heptathlete.
Her personal bests in the high jump (5-8), javelin (121), shot put (36-8) and triple jump (37-plus) put her among the state’s best in each even. She’s qualified for state in all four events and is seeded second in the high jump, third in both the javelin and triple jump and fifth in the shot put.
Taylor, who has received a stack of recruiting letters for Sasha in track, said she’s among the most talented athletes he’s coached.
“I couldn’t even imagine what she could be,” Taylor said. “Except for Jonathan Stewart, she has the best raw, physical talent of any athlete I’ve worked with. And she’s still very much basketball first.”
Sasha is getting several recruiting letters a day and often a couple of phone calls each day from college coaches, mostly for basketball. Army coaches frequently call her about track.
“I don’t want to say it’s annoying, but it’s hard,” she said.
Since fourth grade, Sasha has been a dual sport athlete, playing basketball and track. She turned out for the Barron Park Striders in fourth grade, getting quality coaching and encouragement from Drew Stevick.
Sasha is a gifted athlete. That was evident when Taylor entered her into the shot put for the Gig Harbor dual meet in the hopes of picking up a couple of points. She ended up throwing over 36 feet and winning.
“It was a surprise to see her win the shot put,” Taylor said. “She’s thrown a lot over the years, but it’s not been an emphasis. She’s not been passionate about it.”
Yet she still wins.
On Tuesday night at her AAU basketball practice, Sasha ran around a track with her teammates for an hour, probably doing seven-plus miles. She said it was punishment for losing.
“My legs are dead,” she said.
But on Thursday afternoon at Mount Tahoma High in Tacoma, Sasha will do what she always does – compete.
“She’s a competitor,” Taylor said. “She’ll do well. She’ll be ready.”
