CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The CBC Elite Gibson sixth-grade girls will play in the AAU National Basketball Championship on July 13. While their goal is to clinch the title, to head coach Jorvay Gibson they’re already winners.
Gibson, even when playing college ball, never considered he would be coaching a girls’ basketball team. Now, he can’t imagine don’t anything else.
“To be here with these groups of kids, a lot of them never quit on me,” he said. “They never give up. It just exceeds way outside of the basketball court.”
Gibson and his team won the North Carolina State Championship and will travel to Clarksville, Tennessee, to compete for a national title.
“(It) means a lot because we’ve worked hard to get here, and we’re dedicated and we’ve been in the gym long,” he said. “We’re just helping each other and we’re communicating and we’re just working hard.”
Winning nationals would be a fitting finale for the team. Many of them have played together for three years.
“Some of these girls came in frustrated. They couldn’t dribble. They took a lot of losses when they were young and so it’s just seeing them not give up learn how to fight. It’s just a big deal,” Gibson said.
The team has learned a little bit about themselves along the way. They’ve put in the work. The reward is the opportunity to play for a championship.
Win or lose, they’re in it together.