Boulder City senior Joey Western (20) drops in a point over Faith Lutheran defenders during the 3A Southern League basketball tournament at Desert Oasis High on Feb. 19.
Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009 | midnight
Boulder City senior Joey Western (20) looks for an open teammate while being covered by Basic guard Tyler Dobbins (10) late in the fourth quarter of a game at Basic High on Jan. 5.
Boulder City shooting guard Joey Western recovers a loose ball during the boys 3A Southern Regional Championship game against Moapa Valley at Desert Oasis High School on Feb. 25.
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If Mad Moves basketball coach Mitch Mitchell has learned anything about Joey Western, it's that the Boulder City resident is driven.
If Western wants something bad enough, he'll get it. Take a conversation Mitchell had with Western for example.
"When he was playing on our team last summer, he said he wanted to win a state championship," Mitchell said. "And he said he wanted to get prepared by playing AAU ball."
Less than a year later, Western ended his senior season by celebrating a state championship with his Boulder City High teammates. But now, it's a new summer.
And Western has a new goal — he wants to earn a scholarship to play college basketball.
"It's pretty much the same thing," Western said. "Go out there and work hard."
Western said he didn't have any specific schools in mind, but wanted to end up somewhere. He's will spend next year at Impact Basketball Academy, 121 E. Sunset Road, to help him reach his goal.
Western will start at Impact on Sept. 1. Western said the program would make him a better athlete.
"They take you through nine months of individual training and conditioning," Western said. "It's going to be tough."
It will be tougher for Western considering he's still recovering from meniscus surgery he underwent more than a month ago. Western started feeling knee pains midway through Boulder City's season last year and found out he would have to undergo surgery.
But he had a state championship to chase. The surgery could wait. Western said all through the end of the regular season and state playoffs he was playing at about 70 percent.
Finally at the beginning of June, Western had the surgery. He sat out from basketball for two weeks and is still attempting to get back into top shape.
"I was pretty behind with my conditioning and basketball and everything, but I figured that was going to happen," Western said. "I still can't jump as high or run as fast."
Western plans to be back at 100 percent before he officially starts at Impact.
Not that he's ever going to forget the phase he just completed.
"I live with my brother now and 10 years ago, my brother won a state championship at Boulder," Western said, "so we always talk about it and compare our state championships."
Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or at [email protected].
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