Brazilian bred Soares makes impact in Deming

There were few times Mount Baker 6-foot-10 senior Timothy Soares didn’t have a basketball in his hands while growing up in Campinas, Brazil.

His mom, Susan Soares, was the 1986 Washington state Gatorade Basketball Player of the Year at Mount Baker, and his dad, Rogerio Soares, played college ball and ran a sports ministry with Athletes in Action.

“We would always have American teams come down and have clinics with the Brazilian kids, and I’d help translate and do all the drills,” Soares said in a phone interview. “We practiced all the time. We needed to pay for college, and when I realized that I tried to focus even harder.”

Soares had been out to Deming before his junior year, visiting his grandparents, but with the hopes of earning a college scholarship to play basketball and further his education, the Brazilian big man decided to live with his grandparents his junior and senior season and attend Mount Baker High School.

Although Deming and Recife, Brazil, where Soares’ family moved four years ago, poses its difference, Soares has thrived.

“The very first day I met him, he shook my hand and introduced himself and at that moment I could tell he was an incredibly genuine young man,” Mount Baker coach Rob Gray said in a phone interview. “He had a passion to be great at basketball, a great leader and a great person and a great student, and it’s been nothing less than that the entire time.”

From Brazil, Soares brought an immense amount of size and talent, but he hadn’t been exposed to team basketball back home.

Little time past last season before Northwest Conference teams began recognizing Soares’ skill. He led Baker in scoring with 13.5 points per game and scored a season-high 31 points during a game against Granite Falls.

Soares is extremely athletic for a near 7-footer. He can handle the ball, he can shoot from the perimeter, close and has the ability to alter and block shots with his length. In other words, Soares is a force on both ends of the court.

“It’s been fun to work with his skillset,” Gray said. “He is the first legitimate D-I type of player I have had from a basketball perspective.”

And the Division I offers have come.

Soares took visits to the University of Montana and the University of California, Davis, but ultimately Soares decided to follow his dad’s footsteps, committing to NAIA school The Master’s College in Newhall, Calif.

“Well, it was always the plan,” Soares said. “It was kind of the plan to get a scholarship, and it happened. This was a great opportunity, and we took it.”

Before Soares takes the next step in his life, he’s hoping to help Mount Baker get to the Class 1A State Tournament. He’s one of several talented returners, giving Gray and the Mountaineers plenty of reason to be optimistic about this season.

“I was kind of scared at first, what is going to happen, how it will all work out,” said Soares of his new life in Deming. “It’s been a great ride since the day I got here. It’s a small school and all the teachers and coaches know each other, and the teachers help me out a lot and all the kids once I got here have been friendly. Everybody helped out in the process of blending in.”

This story was originally published December 5, 2015 at 10:23 PM with the headline "Brazilian bred Soares makes impact in Deming."