Sport
Don’t BOX Me In! Inside the Coach’s box of Coach Trisha Stafford-Odom
TSO: {Laughs} Kids be trippin’! Like, “Mama, Shut Up!”
CR: And then the only person the little child is looking for when he or she scores is their mother. In a “Look Mama! You saw me just score right?” kind of way. What if they threw techs at every man, woman, boy, girl that talks noise? I got 30-33 points to drop on you right now. I GOTTA TALK! Straight Up! What do you think will happen to the game if saying, “Ha Ha! I got you!”, that means a tech?
TSO: First of all, I wouldn’t even be a fan. I would not have been as successful. I’ll say it like this. I wouldn’t have reached the heights in my basketball career if fun wasn’t implemented. Part of me as I was told and described was that I have fun. I had so much fun. So if that was taken away from me I would be bored. I wouldn’t enjoy it. That’s the bottom line. It would be completely pathetic to be honest with you. I do not know how many muscles it takes to smile but to people not named me, that smile of mine was intimidating. And to most players, intimidation is how you take it. It’s like I got mind control over you Deebo! {laughs} For real.
Even now I’m having fun just flashin’ ‘em back ya know?! Part of my thrill is seeing how my opponents receive my smile.
CR: Do you miss playing?
TSO: You ask if I miss playing? One word: Yes! I do and yet I don’t miss it. You know, I miss the competitive part of playing. My body won’t allow me to play: My knees.
Do I miss it when I was at my best? Yeah. Now? Naw! I wanna do it to aid in my Coaching. In other words, to be able to physically do it better than any of my players; I miss that and that would help me in my current situation, so I become a better listener. I miss it. But I miss it for a different reason I say.
