Coach Chris comes to Nikos with an extensive knowledge of the game and has spent many years coaching local High Schools. Along with coaching here at Nikos, Coach Chris is an Assistant Coach at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo. He spent 2015-2018 as Varsity Head Coach for Mission Viejo High School. Prior to this Coach Chris also was an Assistant Varsity Coach for Trabuco Highs High School between 2011-2014.
After attending Trabuco Hills High Coach Kevin continued playing basketball in competitive men’s leagues. His pursue to be a better basketball player and Coach lead him to JW Basketball where he trained and coached for the last 5 years. He worked with kids from 3 years old – High School, kids with special needs, and international club teams.
Played high school at SVC. Graduated with 16 school records. Played college at Trinity International University in Chicago. 2nd season as assistant coach at SVC. 2nd season coaching AAU under Rich Prospero. Lives in Mission Viejo with his wife Dania.
Coach Josh played high school basketball at Saddleback Valley Christian. He graduated with a total of 16 school records. He played college at Trinity International University in Chicago. Coach Josh is the Head Coach for Saddleback Valley Christian. This is his 3rd season coaching AAU under Rich Prospero. Coach Josh lives in Mission Viejo with his wife Dania.
Coach Luke is going into his 8th year of coaching High School Basketball. He is graduate from Mission Viejo High School where he coached for 2 years. This will be his 2nd season as a Varsity Assistant at Trabuco Hills High School. His goal as a coach is to develop players skills and help individuals work together as a team. Luke is a recent graduate of Cal State University Fullerton where he received a Bachelor’s in Business Administration. He would like to thank his family, friends, and fiancé, Colleen, for their continued support.
While being raised in West Covina, CA, Jameel attended West Covina High School and played Varsity basketball since his sophomore year in high. While playing on varsity he led the team in scoring and assists each year while finishing his high school career with averages of 18 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds and 3 steals a game. Jameel was also invited to the Nike summer camp which only the top 120 high school players in the United States were invited.
Jameel was given a scholarship to the University of Nevada Reno were he attended for 1 year before transferring to Colorado State University. While at CSU Jameel started his junior and senior seasons while leading the Western athletic conference in 3 pt fg % shooting 45%. In a game against Fresno State, Jameel lead the Rams to one of the best come from behind victories in school history. With the Rams down 15 points in the final 7 minutes, Jameel went on to score 22 points in the 2nd half and finish with a game high 26 to help seal the deal on a 80-79 victory for the Rams. Jameel was also named the team’s Most Inspirational Player and team MVP. Tied a tournament record for 3 point fg’s made in a single game with 8 and in the same game had a career high in points (30). He graduated from CSU in the top ten in 3 point fg made and 3 point fg %.
After graduating from Colorado State University, Jameel went on to play professional basketball in Serbia (Former Yugoslavia), where he averaged 16 points a game and lead the top Division with a 50% fg average from beyond the 3pt line.
Jameel is married to Darlene Mahmud and has 3 beautiful children, son Isaiah, daughters Kiani and Kira. Jameel and his family reside in Rancho Santa Margarita.
Coach Williams has experienced many levels of basketball, from playing on the high school varsity team as a freshman, to becoming a starter and competing at the highest level of college sports. Coach Williams previously coached at one of California’s Community College powerhouse programs Saddleback. He became a model student-athlete by listening to his coaches, and applying the fundamental skills he learned to lead his junior college team to an impressive 18-10 record in one of the most difficult regions in the country. His success both on the court and in the classroom, earned him a full ride scholarship the following year to the University of California Riverside, where he became the only team member to start every game that season. As a senior at UCR Steve became a team captain. Leading by example he proved that with hard work and determination he was more than capable of both competing and playing with some of the best players at the college level. He’s been a solid basketball player his entire career, averaging 15 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists in junior college, and 10 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists at the D1 level. As a student, he earned his A.A. with high honors and graduated from the University of California Riverside with a 3.0 grade point average.
The 6-5 Guard averaged 21.5 points, 12.5 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game for the week, as the Highlanders went to overtime in both contests.
In an 82-76 defeat to Long Beach State, Williams came up one assist shy of UCR’s first triple-double of the Division I era. Williams notched 13 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists against the 49ers in 39 minutes of play. He had the assist on the game-tying three at the end of regulation, which sent the game to overtime.
Williams then provided his second double-double with a career-high 30 points and a season-high 15 rebounds versus UC Davis in a 94-87 win. He made 10 of 15 from the field, including a perfect 5 of 5 on three-pointers. He also sank three free throws in the final 41 seconds to ice the game.
Our very own Coach Prince is the son of legendary high school coach Derek Swafford, who holds the record for most wins in Sacramento High School history. He grew up playing AAU competitive basketball in the Sacramento area, starting at age 9. As a freshman, he was a varsity starter at Santa Barbara High School. He has been coaching youth atheletes ranging in ages from 6 to 16 in the Orange County area for nearly a decade. He currently resides in Mission Viejo with his wife Meghan, and children Prince Jr., Edan and Simone.
Coach Ariel Hall was born and raised in Pomona, CA. During his high school career at Ganesha and Diamond Ranch High School, Coach Hall was twice named Honorable Mention – All Defense. After high school, Ariel followed his dreams by playing basketball at Mt. SAC Junior College in Walnut, CA. During Coach’s Sophomore year playing for the Mounties, the team finished 5th in the state of California, Hall averaged 13.5 points a game, and he was again given named Honorable Mention – All Defense. After completing Junior College, Coach received a scholarship to play basketball at Waldorf College in Forest City, IA. He spent his time playing both point guard and shooting guard for the Warriors. He also fulfilled another dream by graduating college with a Bachelor’s Degree in Education. After college, Coach Hall moved back to California where he became California Basketball Official Association (CBOA) certified. He began employment with PickUp USA Fitness as a Basketball Trainer. He also started his coaching career as the Head Coach for Powerhouse Basketball during the 2014 spring season. Hall’s goal as a coach is to teach his players that through hard work, anything is possible. He encourages his players to never give up and believes that the discipline and hard work learned in basketball can positively influence them in all areas of life.
Coach Shafiq comes to Team Nikos with experience as both a player and a coach. He played basketball for 6 years overseas before joining JSerra High School as the JV Head Coach. While there, he led the team to a championship in his first year, and assisted the Varsity team in earning a CIF Championship. He then moved on to Laguna Hills High School, where he is currently Head Coach for Girls JV and Assistant Coach for Girls Varsity Basketball. In his first year at Laguna Hills, Shafiq led the JV team to a League title. Coach Shafiq specializes in guard development, improving players’ basketball IQ, and overall knowledge of the game.
High School Director Rich Prospero is a former Head College Coach (Chapman College – 1988) and High School Coach (Santa Ana Valley – 1992-94). Coach Rich was name Orange County’s High School Coach of the Year in 1992. In the past 20 years he has coached, trained and mentored many of the elite players here in Orange County and has developed close relationships with the basketball coaching fraternity at both the high school and college level.
Coach Jesse Mercado joins Team Nikos with extensive coaching and training experience. He believes in building character, discipline, and integrity through commitment, collective responsibility and lots of hard work. His coaching philosophies are not built simply around just winning, but rather a belief that the team structure, over individualism, is what leads to success for all. Team is defined as every member of the program who shares the common goal of success. Jesse was a 3-year Varsity High School starter, earning several acknowledgements before then heading to UC Santa Barbara for a 2-year basketball career. Once his playing came to an end, Jesse continued his passion to coach and train the game he loves while working with professional, collegiate, high school and grade school players. He has 15 years of high school varsity coaching experience, including serving as Associate Head Coach at JSerra Catholic High School; and 15 years of basketball skills and athletic performance training.
Coach Brandon began playing basketball at the age of 7. Brandon played travel basketball through youth and high school. He was a 4 year varsity starter and leading scorer at Chaffey High School and graduated in 1998. He played for Chaffey Junior College and played 1 year averaging 17 ppg, 8.9 rbs, and earned multiple awards. He earned a scholarship to Texas Tech where he suffered a college career ending injury. After intense therapy and recovery Brandon played Professionally in the Latin League Overseas, also in China, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand. Brandon finished his career off playing in the American Basketball Association (ABA). Coach Brandon has coached for Nikos since 2009. He is now Ladera Sports Center’s Head Basketball Trainer and runs his elite training program LV8 & shooting program LV8D Reps. Coach Brandon currently trains the Top youth and High School players in Orange County who attend High Schools such as Mater Dei, JSerra Catholic, and Santa Margarita. Coach Brandon is married to our very own Coach Jennifer Holmes and they have 2 beautiful children (Brandon and Jennea).
Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, John attended the University of Redlands, where he studied Psychology and inadvertently fell in love with Southern California. Over the the next 7 years John became the Executive Marketing Director for Equinox International, a Nevada based company that focused on environmentally conscious products. After Equinox International closed its doors, John transitioned into being a Multi-Unit Subway Franchisee, owning many stores in the Albuquerque area over the next 16 years. In addition to owning and operating stores in Albuquerque, John was hired by corporate Subway to train new owners to improve their store operations, and to train the owners and employees methods to maximize store profits. For the 5 years prior to working with Team Nikos, John was the VP of Sales and Marketing for Simply Design, INC., a successful Albuquerque based company specializing in all aspects of online marketing, search engine optimization, and website design. John’s oldest of 2 sons, Carson has been a proud player with Team Nikos since his 6th grade year and is excited for his future in the sport.
Coach Brandon started playing basketball at 10 years old. His introduction to basketball began on the playground where it led him to NJB and then to club basketball with the Long Beach Road Dogs. Playing for a travel team made Coach Brandon realize how much work was needed to be an exceptional club basketball player.
While at Durango High in Las Vegas, Nevada, Coach Brandon played the 4 (power forward). His team ranked nationally in the top 25. Upon high school graduation, he decided to continue playing ball and took his talents to Ohlone Junior College, where he was number one in the state of California for three point percentage. This success recruited Coach Brandon as a division 1 point guard. He finished his college career at Wiley College in Marshall, Texas. Moving back to California spurred a new adventure in 2014 as a head assistant at Orangewood Academy, where the Spartans won their first CIF championship.
Coach Brandon’s coaching philosophy is simple: what you put in is what you get out. He also believes it’s a grind like any job is, but when you teach life application through skill development, the lightbulb moment happens. Basketball is a tool he uses to drive home this important life skill and feels that if he can positively impact kids with this lesson, his job has been done.
What Coach Brandon loves about basketball is the grind. He would wake up at four in the morning to hit the sand dunes for two hours then hit the gym for four hours working out and training with weights. Coach Brandon reflects, “Knowing that I was starting my day doing something no one else was doing at that time gave me an edge that I miss today!” Now, he can pass along this love of training through his coaching of young athletes. Coach Brandon is committed to growing his players and making a difference.
At the age of five, Coach Jade started playing basketball. For travel ball she played on the Lady Hawks for five years and then on the Riverside Elite for three years. During her high school years, she played starting point guard on varsity at Martin Luther King Jr. high in Riverside, California. Coach Jade began her coaching experience during her 11th grade year while volunteering to coach eight year olds at a recreation center. She continued as an assistant coach her senior year. Throughout Coach Jade’s basketball career she was awarded MVP, best defense, and leadership.
Coach Alec fell in love with basketball at the age of seven. He played AAU basketball from seven years old through high school. Coach Alec first attended Aliso Niguel High School for two years before transferring and graduating from JSerra Catholic High School. His natural size, ability and hard work helped him to play and start on the varsity team all four years. His senior year culminated with recognition as a top 100 California player. Coach Alec earned and signed a scholarship to San Diego State, where he was a part of the top recruiting class of 2009 and contributed to the best team record for San Diego State basketball (34-3). While on the San Diego State team, they won three Mountain West Tournaments, participated all three years to the NCAA tournament, losing to the Huskies (UConn) in the Sweet 16. He then transferred to Humboldt State for his senior year where he averaged 21.1 points and 9.8 rebounds. After college, he played one season professionally overseas in Germany and is continuing to grow as a coach and player.
Coach Prince Obasi started playing the game of basketball at the age of four years old. He dedicated his passion for the game with consistent hard work and pose play in 9th grade playing with Junior Varsity for the first half of the season then moved on to Varsity for playoffs. He became one of the captains during his senior year and led the team in scoring, assists and rebounds with an impressive record of 20-9. He averaged 14.7 points per game, 1.2 assist, and 2.6 rebounds. He was also recognized for his aggressive defense and IQ. He earned the opportunity to play in the All-Valley All-Star game where his team won the MVP award and played in the CIF All-Star game.
He attended Howard College in Big Springs, Texas where he helped the team to a 30-2 record and won the National Championship during his freshman year. He left Howard and transferred to Saddleback College in Mission Viejo and helped the team play in the final 4. He received a full scholarship from Seattle University where he was voted All-WAC 2nd team. He graduated in 2013 with a BA degree in Psychology.
After his college career, he traveled to South America and played in Colombia where he averaged 9.3 points per game, 3.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists and 1.0 steals, leading the team to the finals. He recently returned from playing in Germany and would like to continue pursuing his goal of playing professional basketball.
Coach Andre began playing basketball at age five and eventually found himself as a three-year varsity player at Moreno Valley High School. Putting up significant stats each game, he set the high school record for steals and achieved a triple-double in the same game. Andre went on to play basketball at Mira Costa College in Oceanside. While there, he averaged 14 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds per game. Andre accepted an offer at Prairie View A&M University in Texas, where he suffered a first-season lower back injury, cutting his season short. Through faith and hard work, he rehabilitated and went on to play for the ABA Orange County Gladiators, Carson Buzz (now Maywood Buzz) and San Diego Sol. In 2009, he played in Italy for the San Bernadette del Toronto Dragons after playing on a USA Select Tour Team. Coach Andre loves teaching basketball and is extremely passionate about the game. His goal is to help each player he encounters at Team Nikos become the best they can be…no matter their age, size or skill level.
Kaysha joins our coaching staff as an accomplished student-athlete with extensive basketball experience. Growing up in Sacramento, she started playing the game as a 5th grader at her K-8 school and “played up” on the 6th-8th grade championship-winning team. She went on to play AAU basketball with the Sac Town Ballers through high school, winning multiple championships. Kaysha was Team Captain of the Girls Varsity basketball team at Sacramento High School for all four of her years there. She was named Most Improved Player, Most Valuable Player, Defensive Player, and was awarded to the Optimus All-Star and Who’s Who teams. Additionally, she was on the track and field team for three years and held the position of Student Body President her senior year. Kaysha was awarded a full athletic scholarship to attend Alabama A&M University. Joining the basketball team as a Freshman, she started most of the games for her entire college career, progressing to the playoffs every season. While at Alabama, she earned Most Improved Player and Defensive Player. Kaysha graduated in 2006 with a BS Degree in Marketing and now works at Wells Fargo. She returns to Sacramento regularly to help her former high school coach, now at Hiram Johnson West Campus. Kaysha’s philosophy is simply “practice makes perfect”. A lover of the game of basketball, she has always known that she wanted to coach and train others. She loves giving back and teaching kids what she wishes she would have known at a young age.
Coach Wayne attended Taft High School in Woodland Hills, California and played basketball for three of his four years there. He received a scholarship to D’Youville University in New York City, but decided to stay in California and attend Vanguard University in Costa Mesa. Wayne played basketball for only two years due to health issues. He graduated with a degree in Kinesiology, coaching and teaching. Wayne’s first love was basketball and it continues to be his passion. He is excited to share his enthusiasm for the game with our Team Nikos players!
Christopher Jolivette was born and raised in New Orleans. He played varsity basketball at Oliver Perry Walker High School where he earned two scholarships – one to attend Nickel State University and the other for Southern University. Instead, he joined the United States Navy and served as a Search and Rescue Swimmer. While enlisted, Chris played on the All Navy basketball team. An invitation to try out for the Naval Academy’s team was cut short by an injury. Following military duty, Chris went on to play on the semiprofessional basketball circuit for several years. Eventually, he retired as a player to do what he considers his most important job, “be a dad”. He continued to coach and train all levels of players, including a few from the NBA. A huge fan of the game that he claims has given him outstanding experiences, he is now committed to giving back.
Coach Ryan started playing basketball at the age of five. During eighth grade, he played AAU for the Anaheim Aces, One Tough School, and SCA. He also played four years of varsity basketball under Team Nikos Coach Jesse Mercado. Dedication and hard work helped Coach Ryan to become the second leading scorer of his junior season in Orange County. Other honorable highlights: Averaged 25 points per game, five assists per game, three rebounds per game, three steals per game at Fairmont Prep Academy in Anaheim and also received two time MVP San Joaquin League, three time All League 1st Team and 2nd Team All CIF junior year. For his senior year, he transferred to JSerra Catholic High School earning the 2nd Team All-Trinity League scoring an average of 13 points per game.
Coach Ryan went on to play collegiate basketball at Santa Ana College his freshman year, then transferred to Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego where he graduated with a BA in Sport Management. He played his last two years of eligibility at Hope International University in Fullerton. While at Hope International University, Coach Ryan’s team received the TOP 10 ranking in the NAIA Division. After college, Coach Ryan played professional basketball in the Philippines but returned due to an injury.
Coach Ryan brings four years of coaching experience from Saddleback Valley Christian High School, Fairmont Prep Academy, Encinitas Family Ecke YMCA. He has also served as co-director of North Orange Christian Church’s youth sports camp.
Coach Ryan’s goal and philosophy of coaching is simple; he desires to be an example while making players better young adults on and off the court through discipline, hard work and accountability. What he loves about basketball and coaching youth is passing down knowledge and experience to show the kids what it takes to get to the next level.
Coach Steven began playing competitive basketball in 2nd grade and he continued playing the game he loves through high school. He has experience coaching a wide range of kids’ ages and he enjoys sharing his passion for the “team” element of the game with his players. Says Steven, “I am very eager to help this basketball program reach its full potential and I’m determined to do whatever it takes for us to get there.”
Mike makes his return to coaching club basketball after taking a year off to focus on training guards to improve their ball handling skills.
Previously, he coached 3 years for the South County Spartans and Triple Threat Basketball Club in Mission Viejo.
Mike played college basketball at Concordia University in Irvine. He was a four-year letterman, who played for Coach Chad Kammer, current Miami Heat Assistant Coach. Mike graduated from Concordia with Bachelor’s degree in communications in 1997. He and his wife, Christi, have 4 children together. Their daughter, Sierra, attends Saddleback College, and their oldest son, Jonah, is a Junior at Saddleback Valley Christian. Their sons Isaiah and Trey currently play for Team Nikos.
