BEST PREPS TYLER 2023: M. Roberts Digital Award for Heart and Desire: Mikyla Bachert, Van

Published 5:00 am Saturday, April 29, 2023

What her coach said:

Mikyla is a winner on and off the court. She has overcome injuries to pursue her passion and her love of the game of basketball. She is an extension of the coach on the court and in the locker room. She knows how to help create a ‘champion’ culture with high standards, character and no drama. She is self driven yet looks to bring others with her. She is an ‘outlier’. Mikyla has been a gym rat her whole life. She has worked very hard at her craft. At 18 months old, it was discovered that Mikyla had very poor vision. After a year of rigorous and consistent eye therapy, it was deemed necessary that she have eye surgery. In fact, it required two more surgeries on her eyes in her younger years and her prescription was so bad they didn’t make contact lenses to fulfill the prisms required to help her eyes to work together. She didn’t care, she played with thick glasses, which oftentimes broke and had to be taped when she played basketball leading up to high school. Her eyes responded well enough to be able to get contacts her freshman year, but that didn’t go without a glitch. At the routine eye exam during basketball preseason, her eyes had to be dilated and when they returned to “normal”, she saw double. That didn’t stop Mikyla from practicing with her team. At times, she would make a bad pass because she guessed by throwing it to the “wrong” person of the double vision. This lasted for a few days. She continued to go to school and practice with her team.

As a freshman and new to her school, she was slated to be the starting point guard. Then, at a Christmas tournament, she injured her knee. After having it tested, she fought through the pain to rehab it to continue her season. When released to play again, she made a cut in pre-game warm-ups, which revealed her ACL was actually torn. Mikyla had surgery, did her rehab but continued to support her team by attending all of the practices and games. This is a team that went to the regional semifinals. She was determined to regain her form and come back better than before her injury. She searched YouTube and found a seated ball handling routine done by an older athlete in a similar situation.

Mikyla was dedicated to her rehab, and she was ready for her sophomore year. Mikyla’s mom accepted an assistant coaching position at a 5A. Once again slated to be her team’s starting point guard as a sophomore, she tore the ACL on her other knee a couple games into the season. Rather than ask ‘Why me?’, she responded with a ‘Why not me?’ A couple days after surgery, Mikyla could be found sitting on the gym floor doing ball handling with her crutches next to her. As a junior, again with a new team with her mom as a head coach and coming off a summer of rehab, Mikyla had to have a ‘clean up’ meniscus surgery that was discovered at the end of her ACL rehab. Mikyla was tasked with leading her team in scoring, introducing ‘champion’ habits and getting her teammates involved. For her efforts, she was named a team captain and she earned team MVP, All-District Newcomer of the Year and honorable Mention All-East Texas.

As a senior, with yet another new team (her mom once again elevated herself to a head coaching job at a 4A, Van) After gaining the respect of her teammates through the preseason, Mikyla was voted as one of the team captains. Mikyla Bachert was the engine who made our team run. From day one, she set the tone for our champion culture on and off the court. As a coach, I could turn over the weight room for Mikyla to run it and trust the intensity would remain the same as if a coach were in the room. In a timeout huddle, I could hand her the marker and she would literally draw up the play and explain to her teammates where we were falling short and needed an adjustment. As an extension of the coaches on the floor, we put the rock in her hands and trusted her to run the show while oftentimes literally carrying opponents on her back. Mikyla also anchored our defense and took a team-high 13 charges. Mikyla was an example of unselfishness, although she loves to score, she loves to facilitate even more. With very capable scorers as teammates she set the tone for unselfishness. She led the team with six assists per game, including a game-high of 12, while stepping up in big games like Brownsboro (14 points) to help score when needed.  Her effectiveness is not stat driven. We won the District 16-4A championship outright (no one can remember Van girls winning the district before) and advanced to the area round of playoffs. As for stats, Mikyla averaged five points, five rebounds, six assists and two steals per game.

Mikyla earned a basketball scholarship to play at Cameron University next year. She also earned the prestigious National ROTC Scholarship to attend the university of her choice in the nation that has an ROTC program. She is considering participating in this rigorous program while also playing college basketball.