Mom making history coaching twins, boys basketball at Lincoln HS
By Nick Krupke
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PORTLAND, Oregon (KPTV) — After a two-decade career of coaching girls basketball programs in Ashland, Sprague, Lakeridge and Canby, Heather Seely-Roberts wanted to switch it up as her youngest boys getting older.
She made OSAA history when she took over the boys basketball program at 6A Lincoln High School this season, just like she did three years prior at 3A Yahmill-Carlton. There, she was the first woman to lead a boys varsity squad from Oregon in more than 70 years.
The mom of five now gets to coach two of her own for the Cardinals.
“When I wanted to be a boys coach, people said, ‘Oh, that doesn’t work to have a woman coach boys,’” Seeley-Roberts said. “I said, ‘Why doesn’t it work?’”
She is not just a coach, but also a mother.
“I think she’s a big pioneer in coaching for men and women,” Malachi Seely-Roberts said.
Standing 6 feet, 8 inches above the rim, the Seely-Roberts twins turned 17 last month and they all enjoy that carpool from home in Newberg to Lincoln.
“Honestly, one of the perks, and I know the 45-minute drive is long, but then they’re trapped in the car with me and so they have to talk to me,” Heather Seeley-Roberts said. “I like that. I’m like, ‘Put your phones away. It’s mom time!’”
Game time has been a gift from Yamhill-Carlton to Portland.
“We still have big friends there and everything,” Malachi Seely-Roberts said. “But we just felt like it was a better opportunity for us for basketball and academically to move to Lincoln.”
Malachi’s twin said it also is a step up in competition.
“That’s not to say 3A is bad or anything,” Moroni Seely-Roberts said. “It’s just there is more talent overall at the 6A level.”
Heather Seeley-Roberts said it offers a new challenge.
“New things are hard things,” she said. “But they help us grow and change.”
Those hard times have been rooted in growth, change and moving. They moved to Utah from Dec. 2020 last Feb. during the Oregon shutdown. Mom coached where the boys played, at Grand County High School in Moab, Utah, with a state tournament appearance.
“I am just grateful we had the opportunity to play,” Moroni Seely-Roberts said. ”I am grateful for my parents for taking us out there and taking a risk so we could have a ‘normal’ high school year.”
Normalcy and the Seely-Roberts package returned to YCHS in March when hoops were back on in Oregon. While there wasn’t a sanctioned OSAA tournament, the Yamhill-Carlton Tigers roared to the top of the “3A state culmination week” mountain.
“The mental, social and emotional toll that the shutdown took last year, I see it,” Heather Seeley-Roberts said. “At Yamhill, I saw it. The kids need to be at school. The Lincoln kids are suffering too. It’s a long time to be isolated.”
While Malachi and Moroni are open to going their separate ways in college, mom wants them to stick together to make those weekend getaways a little smoother to see her boys play at the next level. Their dad was a walk-on at Oregon State in the mid ‘90s.
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