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North’s Little welcomes two new faces to the Lady Bulldog family
Jim Donovan/McKinney Courier-Gazette
This week’s Lady Bulldog Basketball Camp marks the first time McKinney North head girls basketball coach Valerie Little, standing, has gotten back to coaching following the birth of her son, Jaxson. See more Summer Camp photos in a later edition of the Courier-Gazette and online through Photo Gallery at www.scntx.com.
BY JIM DONOVAN, MCKINNEY COURIER-GAZETTE
When a close friend asked Valerie Little how giving birth to her first child would impact her life, she honestly didn’t foresee it being much different.
But just after 10:20 a.m. on April 21, when the McKinney North head girls basketball coach held Jaxson in her arms for the first time, everything changed in an instant.
“At that point I was like no, everything is going to be the same,” Little said of her friendly conversation last November. “Now I definitely want to spend more time with him than be at the school. I mean, he grows so fast. He’s already two months old. Before I know it he’ll be in school and doing his own thing.”
It’s been a tough transition, getting used to waking up early and spending all day thinking about the sport she loves again. And while Little admits she has definitely missed her little guy at home each day this week, getting the local youth involved in basketball has been a breath of fresh air, albeit a small one.
“It’s basically just fundamental stuff, especially with the younger kids,” Little, whose morning youth camp and afternoon advanced skills camps come to an end today.
“I want them to have fun playing basketball; I want them to love it. I want them to think that it’s easy enough to improve so they can be superstars for us one day.”
The turnout this week isn’t exactly what the Lady Bulldogs leader had hoped it would be, but there is a major benefit to having a small group of campers.
“They get a lot more individualized exposure. You can’t get that at a camp with 100 kids, no matter how many coaches you have,” Little said. “When we’re doing form shooting we can go by and talk to every single kid, instead of catching five of them. We can help them with everything in every drill.”
Jaxson isn’t the only new member of the Little family joining forces with the program - grandpa’s coming, too.
Little was hoping that her father, Herschel Taylor, would be able to join her staff when she first took over following Steve Specht’s departure from North in the summer of 2006. Taylor’s two-year commitment to helping start a program at Brazoswood prevented that happening until now.
Taylor has been a coach for 34 years, transitioning from a head coaching role to that of an assistant seven years ago. He replaces departed varsity assistant Courtney Christenson.
“My whole reason for getting him up here was, well, one, he’s going to be loyal to me, and where else am I going to find someone with 34 years of experience that wants to come and work for someone as young as me,” Little said. “That’s one of the perks of him coming up here.
“And that’s one more baby sitter.”
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