Sharman White is a legendary high school basketball coach in Georgia who has won seven state titles. Currently the head boys’ basketball coach at Pace Academy (Atlanta) after spending the last two seasons as an assistant at Georgia State, White was named ALL-USA Coach of the Year in 2014 and National High School Association Coach of the Year in 2016. Now he’s agreed to give USA Today Sports exclusive access into his world by chronicling everything from intimate details about his team to his methods to his everyday life in a monthly blog.
Happy new school year!
I am excited to be back for another year of writing blogs for USA Today Sports that chronicles our program from my point view.
USA Today continues to be the standard in which high school sports are covered and their content is unmatched.
After an eventful summer that included winning a gold medal representing USA Basketball in Brazil to working with our team/players to spending quality family time with my loved ones (including my golf clubs..;), I can truly say it was time well spent.
That particular space of time has ended and now it’s on to the next mission that has started with another successful start to the school year.
As we approach another basketball season at Pace Academy, the coaches, players, parents and community are energized and ready for another exciting season! The excitement is fueled by our desire and hunger to build on a successful campaign and go after higher goals this season.
Although, the energy we feel to accomplish our goals is high, now the work to make it a reality happens. This is the time of year where some feel the championship is won, and I would have to agree to some extent, but our journey started back in the spring, progressed through the summer, and continues now. Coaches and players alike refer to this time as the preseason, but I like to refer to it as the “Now season.”
As we condition, strength train and develop, we also use this time to come together as a unit. We stress to our players that “working together precedes winning together.”
Like I mentioned before, it is an exciting time, but for our players and coaches, we understand that we must invest daily in our goals in order to get the “ROI” (Return on Investment).
This is also an exciting time for our players because of the recruiting period starting where college coaches can come to watch workouts. Having college coaches watching our player development workouts and open gyms has always been something that gives our guys even more energy as they prepare for the upcoming season.
For many players, it’s a chance to show what they have worked on since the June and July live periods and how they are progressing.
Personally, I am closing in on a milestone that I am humbled by as a coach in this game. Being seven wins away from win No. 400 is something I couldn’t have imagined when I began this coaching journey many years ago.
Although there have been times that we were not on the winning side of the ledger, I can vividly remember something about every win (and loss) but I also remember what every player and assistant coach meant to each of those wins. Without them, there are NO wins! I look forward to sharing this milestone with each of them.
White’s Message:
“You and your opponent want the same thing; the only thing that matters is who works the hardest for it!”
#TheNowSeason
Don’t forget to follow Coach Sharman White on Twitter: @CoachSWhite
