Toya Davis of Carver realizes that there's a lot more to coaching girls basketball than Xs and Os.
During her 11-year career at the high-school and college levels, she has worn multiple hats as a role model and mentor who teaches and admonishes, but she also lends an attentive ear and a shoulder to cry on.
"In helping my players deal with their situations, I see how strong they are, and that's very inspiring," she said.
Davis believes it was inevitable that she would become a coach.
"I've been in a gym with my dad since I was 2 years old," she said.
Her father, Harrison Davis, is a longtime youth coach who also coached basketball at Parkland and Carver. He starred in football and basketball at old Anderson High School in the 1960's and was inducted into the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County High School Sports Hall of Fame in 1983.
Even though Davis was heavily influenced by her father, she didn't play organized basketball until her freshman year of high school at North Forsyth.
As a senior, she was part of the North team that lost to East Wake in the 1997 NCHSAA 4-A championship game.
Davis played basketball and volleyball at Saint Paul's (Va.) before beginning her coaching career, which has included stops at Parkland, Winston-Salem State and Bennett College in Greensboro.
"It's tough being a head coach," she said. "What I've learned from all this is that if God is for me, then who can be against me? That applies not only to basketball, but to life in general."
THREE QUESTIONS FOR DAVIS
Q: What's the best book you've read?
A: "Battlefield of the Mind" by Joyce Meyer
Q: Who is the athlete you admire most?
A: Reggie White (late NFL player)
Q: What is your favorite sports movie?
A: "Remember the Titans"
Craig T. Greenlee
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement