Vardhan Deverkonda '24 Recruiting Profile

My name is Vardhan Deverkonda, and I am a 16-year-old junior at Dougherty Valley High School. I am a 6-foot, 160-pound point guard who has been playing basketball since the 3rd grade. I am extremely passionate about the game and aspire to play at a higher level.

During my freshman year in high school, I made the basketball team and played for the Freshman and JV teams for 2 seasons, but did not get many minutes on the floor due to tough competition and other factors. However, this experience motivated me to work hard and improve for the next season. Right before Varsity selections in my sophomore year, an overzealous showoff of a rebound pick caused me to have a hard fall onto my ankle, resulting in a twisted and sprained ankle. I was super disappointed that I missed out on an opportunity to play for the Varsity team but was determined to improve my overall skills. Over the span of a year, I worked on foundational dribbling, defending postures, and other aspects of my game. Since then, I have not only improved my game further but have also been taking better care of my body. I changed my diet, my workout regime, added training sessions, and now play for an AAU team.

In the interest of wanting to play at the highest level, I have tried out for big-name AAU teams like Oakland Soldiers, Oakland Arsenals, along with local teams like Tri-Valley Basketball (TVB) - a private club run by Dougherty Valley's coach. I chose to play for TVB instead of Soldiers or Arsenals for logistical reasons and also to get noticed by high school coaches for a chance to play at the Varsity level.

Although my ankle injury prevented me from playing for my current school's team, it will always be in the back of my mind. Nevertheless, all of these experiences have pushed me to work hard and become a better player. I have transferred and been accepted into Cal High School, where I aspire to play for the Varsity basketball team starting this summer. Currently, I play for Sacred Hoops club - run by coach Chris Meredith, an amazing coach who is heavily invested in strengthening our fundamentals and prepping us for high school Varsity team level players and beyond.

I also enjoy watching basketball with my dad and am a huge Kyrie Irving fan. Living in the Bay Area, I have had the opportunity to attend many Warriors games. Recently, I visited the Chase Center and won a free-throw contest during the second Warriors home game of the season, earning a prize of $1000 in front of legendary players like Steph Curry and Klay Thompson.

While I am passionate about basketball, I also prioritize maintaining good grades in school. I have a cumulative weighted GPA of 3.6 and an unweighted GPA of 3.3, with my current semester GPA being 4.3. The Covid-19 pandemic has had a big impact on my academics and sports aspirations, and I wish I had learned how to work from home in a more efficient way in 2020.

In addition to playing basketball, I am interested in the sports industry. I am particularly interested in finances, accounting, and business-related applications. I was fortunate to attend a "Contract Negotiations" course at UCLA, where we did mock exercises of preparing contracts between baseball clubs and aspiring players. It was super interesting and provided a new dimension of how to look at finances, the number of people involved, how to present and market yourself, and more. This kindled my interest in Sports Business programs overall, but I understand that I need to study foundational subjects like Accounting and Economics before exploring

Overall, I am excited about the future and where my passion for basketball and interest in the sports industry will take me. I am grateful for the opportunities that I have had so far and look forward to what lies ahead.