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Our Coaches

Coach Toby

Coach Toby played Basketball at Los Gatos High School and Cabrillo Junior College before transferring to UC Santa Barbara where he graduated with a degree in Environmental Studies and Minor in History. His coaching career began during the college years and grew into a life-long pursuit. Over the past 20 years, Toby has coached at all levels, including:

  • Fisher Middle School Boys Team - Undefeated League Champs 2022 & 2023
  • Fisher Middle School Girls Team - Undefeated League Champs 2023
  • 6th grade 2023 Boys All-Net Team (Tournament Champions)
  • 7th grade 2019 Boys All-Net Team (3rd Place at Nationals),
  • Los Gatos High School (20-1 in 2017, 18-6 in 2018),
  • Santa Barbara High School (League Championship)
  • St. Katherine’s College where they played against UNLV, Weber State, Santa Clara, San Jose State, etc. and even beat a few DII programs!

An important part of Coach Toby’s philosophy is the value of being great on the court and also in the classroom. These go together no matter what your skill level is!

Driven to develop student-athletes to be the best they can be Toby makes a point of teaching and cultivating interpersonal skills that transfer from the court to life. Applying his experience at all levels he emphasizes skill development, systems to accommodate team strengths and the creation of successful game plans, encouraging the growth of positive, intelligent, driven players.

Coach Toby’s ultimate goal is to build a program that has buy-in from all involved – players, parents, coaching staff as well as the local high schools and Colleges.

Coach Toby cherishes the opportunity to watch these young men and women grow on and off the court as they become better students, athletes and players we can be proud of when they graduate and head out into the world!

Coach Carlos

Prior to coming to the USA, Coach Carlos developed his coaching career in Spain for over 15 years, where he obtained the certification to coach professional teams and coached at the college level.

Here in the Bay Area, Coach Carlos has coached NJB, AAU and High School basketball. He is currently the JV girls head coach at a local high school.  

Over the last 20 years, he has coached boys and girls in most age groups, from 5th grade to college and everything in between. 

He’s a firm believer in basketball IQ and teamwork over athleticism as a recipe for success and he is committed to developing players to their fullest potential.

Coach Ricky

Coach Ricky brings years of experience as a basketball player, official and youth basketball coach. He has worked with youth in other capacities as well. He taught swimming lessons for 9 years and he currently works as a Behavioral Technician at the Elementary School Level.

Ricky played basketball 3 out of 4 years in high school and served as a Basketball Official for 3 years at the Varsity Level. His basketball coaching experience includes working as JV Assistant Coach at Monte Vista High School for one season, 2 seasons coaching for the Oakland Soldiers and 4 seasons coaching for South Bay Hustle.

He has worked successfully with all ages and we are excited to have him joining our team!

Coach Soroush

Coach Soroush (A.K.A Coach Sushi) has been around basketball his whole life and his love for the game is what drove him to start coaching. He’s been playing competitive basketball since the age of 7, from AAU to 4 years of high school basketball at Los Gatos to club basketball during his time at Cal Poly. To this day, he plays multiple times a week in competitive men’s leagues around the Bay Area.

 

He played every position during his basketball tenure, and that has translated to utilizing an adaptive mindset in his approach to coaching and player development. He’s worked for the NJB organization for a number of years, has coached at numerous basketball camps in the Bay Area, and loves passing his passion for the game onto the next generation.

Coach Jacquees

My name is Jacquees or Ghozt (middle name) if you feel like you might mispronounce. Been playing basketball all my life. On JV as a freshman then Varsity the next three years. Due to football, I got injured and lost my opportunity to attend LSU. When I went to Oregon for Track and Field I got an offer from SLU (their revivals) but had to get surgery due to the fact I was playing on a broken talus in my ankle without knowing. After my time in Oregon I came back to Cali.

Became a coach at Watsonville High in 2019. Been coaching there ever since. I coached Freshman boys then when covid hit, coached JV. I was also the trainer for all Freshmen, JV and Varsity boys. As well as the JV and Varsity girls. I am a personal trainer, so if you need it I got you. I went to Valencia (Spain) to play in the overseas summer league. I got some offers but I re-injured my ankle a few days before. I previously went to a overseas combine and already got an offer to return.... My goal is to play in the G-league then NBA.

As of now I'm just healing up so I can be hundred percent when I go. I love coaching/training as I myself is still learning the game and want to continue to learn the game. My favorite thing about coaching is when the player starts falling in love with the process and starts seeing the work pay off. I'm here to spread as much knowledge as needed and try to inspire anyone who is trying to make that next jump.

Coach Saum

Coach Saumon Tahmassebi (A.K.A Coach Saum) brings an energetic and creative mind to West Valley Drive. He has recent experience playing in NJB, AAU, and High School Varsity basketball in the South Bay Area. When playing on the court, Coach Saum uses his high-level basketball IQ to lead his teams to success, which translates directly to his coaching with West Valley DRIVE.

Coach Saum first joined West Valley Drive in fall of 2018 where he won multiple
tournament championships with his team. Since then, he has head coached two 11+ teams and a 5th grade Los Gatos All Net Team.

Coach Saum also runs and operates our Social Media Marketing.

Coach Pete

Coach Pete joins West Valley Drive after a lengthy playing and coaching career in the Midwest. Following a collegiate career which culminated in him being named conference player of the year along with an NAIA All-American nod, Coach was blessed with the opportunity to play professionally both in the states as well as at the international level.

Throughout his playing days his commitment and passion for teaching the game never wavered, contributing to numerous programs from the middle school to the collegiate level as a coach and skill development trainer.

Coach Pete is extremely excited to bring his wealth of knowledge and experience to the hardwood of the South Bay, looking forward to mentoring our program’s young men and woman on their individual journey with the game he loved so much.



Contact

West Valley Drive  
PO Box 414, Los Gatos, CA 95031  

Coach Toby 619-302-8159

Coach Carlos 408-306-5546

 
westvalleydrive@gmail.com