Warner Robins basketball coach supporting local women’s sports with summer camp scrimmages

WARNER ROBINS — Warner Robins head girls basketball coach Rebecca Ivory is an advocate for women supporting women.

She’s talked the talk for nine years, hosting a summer camp that brings in local teams for scrimmages over two days.

This year featured 14 schools and 39 games, including varsity and junior varsity, on June 8 and June 9. Every hour from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. there was a game in both the new and old gyms at Warner Robins High School.

From Houston County teams, like Northside, Perry and Veterans, to programs from surrounding counties like Jones County, East Laurens, Baldwin and more.

“It’s a lot of basketball right here in middle Georgia,” Ivory said. “I think it makes it easier for the [local] coaches. They don’t have to do the travel, the food, the expense is cheaper. But [also] why not just give back to our community right here, that’s what I’m big on.”

“That’s why we did kids camp [last week], it’s why I do this,” she continued. “It’s about all the schools in the county. Everybody comes but one, and out of those four they support every year…and they also help to get other schools here, just to keep the competition local.”

Player-led growth

Northside girls basketball coach ChoRhonda Gwaltney-Harris lets her varsity players coach junior varsity over the summer. Two years ago it was Taylor Johnson patrolling the seats at Warner Robins’ old gym. Now she’s got a whole new crop of young players.

“My younger kids are a little more talented than my old kids, and my older kids know what I expect,” Gwaltney-Harris said. “I wasn’t here earlier [on Tuesday], and they pretty much coached themselves.”

She’s coached her players to be independent. Whether or not she’s there, her players know the standard stays the same.

“We have a routine when we come in every day, and the first 20 minutes are the same, every single day,” Gwaltney-Harris said. “I don’t have to be there. Those expectations and my upperclassmen are trying to hold kids accountable. The leadership is trickling down…and they’re holding each other accountable for that expectation, for the culture, for the standards.”

New leaders, old faces and fresh opportunities

Demonettes star Trinitee Thomas suffered an ACL tear last season, and she’s still in the recovery process.

She wasn’t present at Tuesday’s scrimmages because of a personal training appointment, which she goes to three or four times a week in hopes of a November return, according to Ivory.

Until then, the leadership burden falls on her long-time teammate Laila Howard-Haney.

The two have played together since childhood, so acting without her counterpart will be an adjustment for the rising senior.

“She’s a natural leader,” Ivory said. “It’s gonna be tough on her this summer, she’s not played without [Thomas]. But I think we’re gonna be okay.”

She’s not the only one with a voice on the team; rising junior Syriah Mace is Warner Robins’ most vocal defender.

At the center of the defense she directs and communicates with her teammates. It helped that the gym was emptier than usual, but she could clearly be heard above everyone else, and that’s not something you can take for granted in high school.

“She’s always been real vocal,” Ivory said. “She talks a lot…and [when] she comes out of the game you can tell the difference…She’s just one that’s gonna speak, she’s gonna lay it out there like it is…I love that about her.”

There were plenty of new faces to be seen, too. Ivory only requested one thing from them: give it your all.

“They just have to get out there and show what they got,” Ivory said on how young players earn her trust. “I tell them all the time it’s not a mistake that determines your success, it’s what you do after the mistake…It’s about giving effort. Are you diving on the floor? Are you the last one down the floor [or] the first one down the floor. Are you the last one to show up to practice [or] are you the first to show up to practice. Just little things like that.”