Cayman Islands’ schoolchildren received inspirational coaching from former WNBA player and current NBA executive Allison Feaster during a talk at John Gray High School on 2 Oct.
More than 350 Year 6 to 10 students from schools across Grand Cayman listened to Feaster as she told them about her journey from small-town roots to global sports leadership and the lessons she learned along the way.
Award-winning player
Harvard graduate Feaster made history by leading the Crimson to a legendary NCAA college basketball tournament upset in 1998 before being drafted fifth overall by the Los Angeles Sparks.
After a 10-year WNBA career with the Sparks, Charlotte Sting and Indiana Fever, Feaster is now an executive with the Boston Celtics, making her one of the women who have broken the through the glass ceiling from the women’s circuit to men’s professional basketball.
Feaster showed the students some highlights of her professional and personal life, including playing for Harvard and meeting Barack Obama, as well as delivering some life skills advice.
“My particular advice that really has stuck with me and has carried me through just about everything that I’ve done to this point, comes from my mom,’ said Feaster. “My mom always told me, ‘Always do your best. Do your best, not somebody else’s best, not your best friend’s best, not someone who is ahead of you. Do your very best and that’s all that matters’.”
This advice, she said, took her from being a “small little country girl in South Carolina” to studying hard in school and being the best in her class, to attending Harvard, which was very much outside her comfort zone. But, she said to the assembled students, “Always step outside your comfort zone to push yourself, because that’s how you grow.”
Speaking after the event, Feaster said that she was having a “wonderful time” on her first visit to the Cayman Islands and loved being able to share with the students what she has learned over her extensive career.
“It’s just about doing your very best and running your own race,” she said. “It’s not about comparisons and seeing what everybody else is doing.”
First Baptist Christian School pupil Phoenix Singh, 13, said he was a “huge basketball fan” and that the event “was a great opportunity to learn new things about maybe becoming a basketball player, joining the NBA, and it was really cool learning about her own
experience, which was really motivational”.
Laura Leontsinis, communications and activations manager at event sponsor Dart, said, “This is our third year of our partnership with the NBA and the goal is not only to develop youth sports on island, but expose the kids to new voices and to recognise that the lessons you learn in sports are lessons you’re going to need your whole life [such as] commitment, dedication, learning to work as a team, all stuff that you’re going to use in your career, no matter what it is.”
She added: “There are a lot of kids here that don’t actually play basketball and they still get to hear from a powerful woman like Allison, the message of what it means to work hard and what you can do when you set your mind to something.”
Daniel Soares, NBA’s director of basketball operations for Latin America, said,”This event is all about inspiring the kids and show them what sports can do for you, and how the skills you learn from sport can be applied to elsewhere in their lives.”
The event was part of the third Jr. NBA and Jr. WNBA week. Feaster is also taking part in the Her Time to Play basketball clinic for girls, to encourage lifelong engagement with sports, whether as players, fans, coaches or leaders. The event includes a 3×3 tournament organised by ACX Basketball.
