2023.03 -- US Storybook 2022 updated 4.14 - Flipbook - Page 36
For Javonn, it wasn’t his first time coaching, but it was this past summer when Javonn made
the decision to fully show up, and that’s made all the difference.
“Last time, I did coaching before the summer, I wasn’t really talking as much. I wasn’t really
doing anything, and not a lot of kids really knew who I was. So I just feel like, if I’m a coach, if
I’m going to represent, then I have to make sure that the kids know who I am and make sure
they know my voice. So when something happens, they know who to come to instead of just
being like, ‘Who is this person?’”
Even though Javonn made that first step, made that decision to be all in, the first two weeks of
camp were a struggle. “You know, I’m a reserved person. I don’t really like talking in big crowds
like that.” Javonn, who some in the PeacePlayers family have affectionately called The Voice of
Brownsville for his fierce activism against gun violence, had actually gotten used to speaking in
front of people. But it was different being around high schoolers. “When it comes to teenagers
and all that, you know, they’re in their hormones and sometimes they want to be defiant, so I
was kind of nervous of that.”
But Javonn wasn’t alone in overcoming those early struggles. The PeacePlayers Brooklyn team,
including Coach Matt, were always on hand to help Javonn believe that he could do it.
“They were like, ‘Here’s what you’re gonna do – right here, you’re gonna do the warmup and
then you’re gonna work this out, and if you’re confident in other parts, we’ll throw you in
too,’ which they ended up doing, which I appreciate a lot. Once those two weeks were done, I
realized that these kids are here to learn basketball.”
“Coach Matt pushed me to do a lot of things. Pushed me to get out of my comfort zone, try it
out… just giving me chance after chance, and also putting me in positions to strive.”
Trinity also struggled to step up and coach at the beginning. But her power to push through the
,-
PEACEPLAYERS UNITED STATES STORYBOOK