In examining the small but intriguing world of Cape Verdean basketball, there are two families who stand out quite prominently. In each case, the athlete is a young woman, and their Father, in one instance, and Uncle, in another, is coaching at the highest levels of major college basketball.
Meet Dave Leitao, ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) Coach of the Year, Head Men’s basketball coach of Virginia, and the first coach of color – in any sport – in the history of that prestigious school founded by Thomas Jefferson. His niece Jade Leitao is a pro player in Portugual, and also an integral member of the Cape Verde National Team.
Dave Leitao played under Jim Calhoun, a long time UConn coach that once coach at Northeastern, where Dave was a 6’7” forward. Later, Dave Leitao joined Calhoun’s UConn coaching staff.
Dave Leitao’s sister Susan, Jade’s mother, was a star player, a generation ago, at Cal State Los Angeles, and she played professionally for 3 years in Southern France after her college days.
Meet Dean Mendes, Assistant women’s basketball coach at massive U. California-Berkeley. His daughter Shardae Gonsalves, is a star player for Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY. 11 years ago, when Shardae was 10 (photo), her New Bedford, MA AAU team - coached by her father Dean - went to the national championships in Orlando and received local press! Gonsalves also happens to be a star lacrosse player who has won academic awards as well.
Dean Mendes had experience in various coaching and administrative capacities at Brown, Boston College, and the University of Vermont before moving to the west coast to coach at Berkeley.
Basketball clearly has been integral in these two families. And it has also clearly eclipsed meaning as merely a game, becoming a career, a fascination, a mechanism to achieving a college education, etc.
Both coaches made it to their respective NCAA tournaments this year, Jade Leitao is performing quite well this season for her professional team in Portugal, and Shardae Gonsalves had a strong senior season, leading the Skidmore College Thoroughbreds, competing in NCAA Division III.
What’s very interesting about these 2 families, these 2 legacies, is that it’s the young WOMEN who are the star players. And you can see the span of basketball going from AAU and backyard coaching all the way to the highest ranks of collegiate play and coaching in the nation! And all along, clearly, there is the sheer love of the game. I’ve said it before, and I’m sure that I’ll say it again: CV hoops is alive and well!
