Doubles may not be a good move in the game, but doubling up on new assistant coaches for this year’s Varsity Girls Basketball team was an exciting change that has occurred this year.
Taneka Golota, who has helped coach Junior Varsity Girls Basketball for the past two years, has now been brought on to spend some time with the Varsity Girls. Prior to coaching, she played basketball until her sophomore year of college. Seeing as how it was always a form of stress relief and fun for her, she saw coaching as a way to get back to the sport she loved.
Faculty spouses can, on occasion, have a hard time integrating into the LFA community the same way that their teaching counterparts do, so Mrs. Golota took coaching as an opportunity to grow closer to the students. Taking on a position as a dorm parent in Marshall Field, she has also been able to build bonds with some of the girls in that way, including some of her players.
Golota’s intersection as a coach is paralleled in her ideal basketball techniques, where she “thinks the best basketball is the kind where you can have some toughness mixed with fundamentals mixed with great basketball IQ mixed with some grittiness.”
Tameka Carter, the second assistant coach that was brought to the team this year, has different experiences to bring to the table, adding to the all-encompassing mix that Golota referenced.
While she is currently as Spanish teacher and in school to further her education, her relationship with basketball has been a long and successful one. She started in sixth grade and stopped playing after college, but tried out for a professional team in Spain during her time as a teacher there. She then played for two years and has now returned to the sport ready to contribute her experiences to LFA’s promising athletes.
Their different backgrounds and goals are yet another positive addition, as best put by Carter who said “You don’t ever want to work on a team where everybody’s the same. That’s where you get stuck, and you don’t grow.”
With that said, there should be lots of exciting growth taking place this season.
While these two unique individuals have many variations in their experiences as coaches, educators, and members of LFA’s family, they share two important similarities: they have an honest love for basketball and a genuine care and concern for their players. Their goals for this year display the high hopes they have for this year and the high energy they’re readily prepared to invest to make this basketball season a great one.
Golota says that for her “it’s more about getting the students to push their limits and become better. Having students get over their own personal hurdles is the biggest task that I try to focus on.”
Carter has a similar philosophy, saying that they’re “trying to make sure to set a standard and make sure the girls are healthy and happy, those are the two most important things for this year.”
With their earnest assurance, it’s clear to see that this will be a flourishing year for the Varsity Girls Basketball team.