Senior guard Kyle Impero has been a steady piece to the Western men’s basketball team this season with his performance on the court, but he’s also done a lot off the court to become a better teammate and improve the Vikings. Impero has been playing the game since high school and said that it was much more interesting than other sports he had played. “I liked how fast-paced the game was and how I could work on my game by myself,” Impero said. “That kind of intrigued me to keep on playing it. The competition and being with teammates really kept me in the sport of basketball.” Vikings head coach Tony Dominguez described Impero as a consistent player. When it comes to performance on the court, Impero averages 15.1 points per game. He is also averaging 6.6 rebounds as well as 1.3 steals per game. “He plays every aspect of the game. He rebounds, he plays defense and he can score. He’s an older guy so he’s levelheaded. He’s an all-around player and does a great job,” Dominguez said. Impero said he has changed his game on the court in order to help the team. Part comes from taking on many roles for the betterment of the team. “He’s just very calm, very patient and works very hard. He is very driven and is working hard towards being a successful person and doing right by the team and the school,” Dominguez said. Impero understands what he has to do to make the Vikings a better team and understands that he needs to be versatile to improve the Vikings. “I’m trying to do whatever I can to help the team and not necessarily having to score 20 points every game,” Impero said. Impero said he is willing to make changes and adjustments to his game for the team and their success by expanding his game, but he also tries to have respect for his teammates when it comes to everyday interactions with them. Impero’s willingness to go the extra mile for the team is another thing that makes him so unique. “There’s not too many guys that can do every part of the game. He’s a good student. He’s good in almost every area. Most players excel in one area or another and they have a lot of weaknesses. Kyle is just really solid at everything,” Dominguez said. Impero is a Whatcom County local hailing from Everson, Washington and a graduate from Nooksack Valley High School. Impero grew up around the Western court and saw the talent that has past through Western. “I’ve been coming up to Western games since I was 10 years old,” Impero said. He also saw that Western had something special in their program and that helped him to decide to stay in the area and play basketball. “I just always knew Western as a good Division II school for basketball,” Impero said. Having his family here is another thing that Impero says adds to his success. “I have my family and people I know here for support as well,” Impero said. When it comes to the future, Impero plans to look into offers to play overseas after this season. “When I was coming out of high school that was one of my main goals, to use basketball to allow me to travel overseas,” Impero said. Impero says that he has never really been out of the country so playing overseas, possibly in Italy, Switzerland, or China is something that he wants to do. “It would just be a good experience,” Impero said. Dominguez sees him being able to achieve that goal of playing outside of the country. “I see him coming back and having a great impact in Whatcom County if this is where he chooses to live,” Dominguez said.
