NCAAW: Daybreak Staley on her religion, retaining perspective and extra

Swish Enchantment is thrilled to publish the debut of Jayda Curry, the 2021-22 Pac-12 Freshman of the Yr at Cal who now could be a rising senior guard at Louisville.

Daybreak Staley doesn’t want an introduction, particularly to not followers of ladies’s basketball. As head coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks, the three-time gold medal-winning Olympian (and 2004 flag bearer), former WNBA star and former Workforce USA head coach has additionally led her workforce to 3 NCAA nationwide championships—thus far.

By means of all that success, Staley has needed to overcome challenges she has confronted as a minority in her career, and she or he is the primary particular person to inform you that the journey she has been on to get to the place she is at this time is a testomony to her religion. The Naismith Basketball Corridor of Fame inductee, whose listing of achievements and accolades are countless, attributes the rationale for her many successes to the next energy.

It was a blessing and an honor to talk to Coach Staley whereas coaching with Tremaine Dalton, Technical Director of the NBA college in Portugal and a Naismith Basketball Corridor of Fame candidate for 2025, in France. Coach Staley spoke about her religion, how she maintains perspective as an alternative of letting issues get to her head and, in fact, her love for the sport of basketball.

Her love for the sport

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“For the longest, I used to be by no means huge on singling out my race, as a result of as a participant I simply performed,” Staley mentioned in the beginning of our dialog. Staley recalled that her love for the sport was what drove her as a younger participant, and it’s what continues to drive her now as a coach. Merely put, the aggressive nature of the game is what she has beloved, and she or he performed as a result of that’s all she knew.

Her place as head coach has introduced her with alternatives to share this love for the sport together with her workforce and college, in addition to with people and communities around the globe. Having had main success as a participant, at each the collegiate and professional degree, and as a coach, Staley’s love and fervour for basketball is seen in all of her successes.

Challenges as a Black lady

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Being a profitable Black lady on this career brings its challenges, however Staley is adamant about attacking these challenges head on. “I’m drawn to challenges. It makes me stronger, it makes me higher, it makes me extra ready, so I’m cool with it,” she mentioned. “You most likely ought to let me get comfy, quite than pointing issues out that may widen the chip on my shoulder.”

“If you’re a profitable Black lady on this house, there are challenges,” Staley continued. “Like there are challenges for all folks. There’s a problem to achieve success in any sport, in any career, however whenever you’re the double minority it hits just a little bit completely different to people who find themselves exterior of your on a regular basis life.”

As a Black lady, her successes can take these on the surface trying in without warning. “To today you’re nearly pressured to say issues as a result of folks will single that half out, which I’m good with as a result of [being a successful Black female head coach] will not be ‘regular.’ It’s not mainstream, it’s one thing completely different, it’s one thing good, it catches folks off guard,” she defined. The folks in Staley’s circle see the onerous work, the sacrifice, the on a regular basis combat. They see all of it. So to them, her success isn’t a shock, it’s merely a testomony to her work and God’s will.

Impression: Perspective is every part

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Staley isn’t that involved with the nationwide protection her workforce might or might not get; for her, it’s in regards to the affect she and her gamers have on and off the court docket. In fact, South Carolina being acknowledged nationally ought to be a no brainer, however, with the politics of basketball and the social media period we reside in, that typically hasn’t been the case. It’s not all the time honest and it’s not all the time proper that her workforce isn’t extensively lined contemplating their successes, however what fills Staley with pleasure is the affect she and her gamers have away from the media protection.

The quantity of those who method her and her workforce and acknowledge them head to head. The folks which are near her acknowledging and celebrating their achievements. These are extra priceless than the nationwide media recognition that South Carolina doesn’t obtain sufficient of. “As you become old in life, you acquire a lot perspective,” she defined. “When folks present love, that fills me with a lot pleasure.”

“After I get a name from Barack Obama, once I get a name from Denzel Washington, once I get flowers from Beyonce—are you kidding me? These are my folks. I’m full. I acquired every part I would like as a result of they’re proud. So, perspective,” Staley emphasised.

“I really feel it from throughout. I’m over in Mexico recruiting and individuals are coming as much as me congratulating me on a championship and asking to take footage…that’s actually what it’s all about. That’s what I respect, that’s what I really like. They’re our workforce only for their very own pleasure, not for what any person says,” she added.

Her mindset: Stability is vital

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Like loads of greats, Staley’s persona away from competitors is completely different from her persona throughout competitors. Protecting all bases and looking for others is her precedence exterior of competitors. As she put it, “Should you come to my home throughout Christmas and I missed you someway…I acquired sufficient stuff round my home to make it appear to be I went out and particularly acquired this for you, as a result of I don’t like for folks to really feel unhealthy or unnoticed. I attempt to be conscious. I attempt to assume forward.”

However when it’s time to compete, Staley mentioned she has a killer mindset. “If I’m exterior of competitors, I’m cool, I’m chilling,” she laughed. Having the ability to faucet into this steadiness and regulate this swap makes her who she is. The care and the love in her coronary heart coupled together with her aggressive spirit makes Staley the wonderful particular person she is.

Staley additionally spoke on her mindset and lifestyle as a complete. “Life is stuffed with exams,” she mentioned, “Both you’re going to cross them, otherwise you’re going to retake them. So, in the event you really feel such as you’re being examined, and it’s the identical take a look at, then you definately’re failing it, so that you might need to do one thing that’s just a little bit completely different.” She believes these exams we face all through our lives are put in place to problem our religion. “When you cross your take a look at, one other one’s coming,” she mentioned. The concept it’s important to undergo it to develop via it’s one which Staley prioritizes and why she depends so closely on her religion.

She is unapologetically trustworthy

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Staley unapologetically proclaims her religion to the world on a constant foundation, whether or not or not it’s by way of social media or on nationwide tv instantly after a nationwide championship win, whereas additionally making it clear her relationship with God is private. “Carry on retaining on. It’s a private factor with me. It’s my relationship with God, not anybody else’s.” For this reason she feels she will glorify God so freely.

For her, the diploma of success she’s achieved is a results of God’s selecting. “There’s a purpose why I’m profitable,” she mentioned. “As a result of God desires me to be.” To Staley, it truly is that straightforward. “It’s not from my doing as a result of I might win all of them… however we lose some, and also you’re grateful for whenever you do win.” In fact there’s work, sacrifice and combat put behind the end result, however with out God, Staley says success doesn’t exist for her. And in her success, she by no means fails to present glory to the place she believes glory is due. “My moments of proclaiming my religion, are simply moments of my cup runneth over,” she mentioned. “I’m glorifying the truth that He selected me, in that very second, to achieve success.”

If you look again on the 2023-24 season, Staley and the Gamecocks had been in the identical boat they had been in in the course of the 2022-23 season, once they made all of it the way in which to the Last 4, undefeated, but fell quick to the Iowa Hawkeyes. It could have been simple to pout and ask why, Staley mentioned. “I wanted an evidence that He actually couldn’t give me. And He didn’t give it to me, He simply confirmed me.”

As an instance what she meant, Staley referred to a 2013 press convention throughout which Beyoncé sang the nationwide anthem a capella after she was criticized for lip synching at President Obama’s second inauguration. The singer ended the efficiency by asking, “Any questions?” Staley recalled. “That’s what God mentioned [once He revealed His timing and what He was capable of], ‘Any questions?’”

As girls’s faculty basketball followers know, Staley and the Gamecocks went in opposition to expectations and quelled all doubters by finishing an undefeated season and profitable each the SEC and nationwide championships, one thing that coach believes was potential partly resulting from her relationship with God. “I’m simply grateful. It’s not downing different folks, it’s not displaying off. You simply should have your individual private relationship with God to essentially perceive,” she mentioned.