Photo by Robert Clark
This past week, during the halftime of the Platinum 3rd place tournament game of the 2024 Spring youth basketball season, the 2023-24 Santa Monica Family YMCA Player of the Year was awarded to Mia Kondratyeva.
On hand to present the award was the recipient of the 2022-2023 Santa Monica Family YMCA Player of the Year, Kay Roberts, who lifted up the cover of the trophy. Current Santa Monica College player and former U-16 Ukrainian national player, Artem Mykhailov, announced the winner with proper pronunciation.
Mia has won multiple awards over the past year including the Hustle Award, Most Outstanding Player, and Most Valuable Player. She has always displayed the utmost sportsmanship, dedication, and perseverance in her quest to be the best that she can be.
At times, she is the only female player on the court in our top Platinum division. Playing against boys, she is out rebounding, scoring, and chasing down loose balls, showing that she was the toughest player on the court.
Recently, she made the junior varsity team as an incoming freshman at Santa Monica High School. My assistant Nicholas Walker is almost certain that she will be promoted to the varsity squad in a short time.
Many times, I would see Mia after practice had finished, still working on her skills as she would dribble, shoot, and do footwork. Practice would be over, but she wasn’t done, she would keep going.
It was difficult to be the only girl on a team full of boys. Sometimes, the boys would tease her, but she never would let it get to her, she was focused and determined. Mia would constantly overcome the odds, and prove that she was a winner, and helped her teams to win championships.
Mia was a favorite among many fans, players, and parents who would marvel at how she showed that she owned the court and wouldn’t be bothered by anyone else. Furthermore, she never argued a call, never complained, always gave 100%, and never missed a game.
Mia is the second female recipient of this most prestigious award in the history of the Santa Monica Family YMCA youth basketball program.
We wish to thank the Los Angeles Lakers Youth Foundation and UCLA Health for making this possible with all their help and support to our program.
But mostly, all of us at the Santa Monica Family YMCA want to thank Mia Kondratyeva for demonstrating and displaying what our youth basketball program is all about. Congratulations, you deserve it!!
