The Emory way
Mikaila's PerspectiveUsually when we think of culture, the first thing that comes to mind is that of different societies, countries, and populations. But have you ever thought of culture in terms of your friend group, your family, or a team you were on? This interview delves into the culture of Emory Women’s Basketball, coming from the head coach herself, Christy Thomaskutty.
So how would you define our team’s culture?” Coach T goes into a description of her ideal culture; one of “acceptance and support.” One that is family-like, where trust and communication are paramount and people “consistently strive to be better,” not just for themselves but for their team. It’s truly an awesome feeling when your coach tells you something, and you can believe it. I’ve been on teams where that trust factor wasn’t always there, and a lot of my teammates including myself had to take what our coach said with a grain of salt. But with Coach T it’s different. Honesty is key in her book and I already have so much respect for her even though I’ve only been on campus for a month. As we continue to talk we ask her, “How have your experiences as a player and as a coach elsewhere shaped the way you run your program now?” This idea of connectivity is a key factor to Coach T’s response. She said that all of her past experiences have led her to take away one very important thing, “How my kids feel is very important to me, not just because I want to be liked but because I know if they don’t view me in a positive way, I can’t reach them.” Coach T values relationships just as much as she values results, and she strives to build a trusting relationship with every individual on the team. And this sense of connectivity between her and her players, and her players with each other, is immensely important to her. Then we when ask her about the influence her previous years coaching at Emory have on how she wants to run her team this year, she says, “I’m so excited about the lack of experience, the youth, and everything else because it’s up to us to define who we want to be, what our ultimate goal will be what our ceiling is going to be, and that’s exciting because I haven’t had that in at least four years.” And just like that, we flew through the list of questions we had prepared. So we sit in our questions wondering how to dig deeper into this conversation. We explain to our coach about how the other students in our class have written such amazing pieces with a great deal of emotion and we are worried about the expectations for our own project, and whether or not we will be able to tie that same amount of emotion into our topic of “Emory Women’s Basketball.” Coach T takes that and runs with it. “But here’s the thing I’ll say to you guys, your version of Emory Women’s Basketball has got to be through a freshman’s eyes. It’s got to be that connectivity you have with the 7 of you and that should be emotional and personal, you know?” Then she talks about how she would think there’s a wide array of emotions from us right now, like the “scared shitless” aspect, “the unknown,” the “insecurity piece of ‘Am I good enough? I was good enough in high school but am I good enough now?’” and as she is saying this is all clicks, it hits me, she is right. Everything that she is describing I am feeling first hand. I am absolutely scared shitless. I know that I can play an important role on this team but I also know that I have to prove myself, not only to my coach but also to my teammates. I also know that I can be a leader, and that I’m good at it, but I have a hard time when I think I’m stepping on other people’s toes, especially the upperclassmen. I value relationships so much that sometimes I allow myself to suffer and take a backseat just so that someone doesn’t get upset with me. But I can’t do that anymore, I know what I can bring to this team and I plan on bringing it. You can lead without being obnoxious, and thinking that my whole team is going to hate me because of it is a very immature thing to think; so that’s my first goal, to change this “I’m only a freshman” mindset and just be the player I know I am. As our conversation comes to a close, Coach T makes one final point. She talks about how our freshman class is special. Usually at this point during the season she says that the freshman aren’t really connected, and that’s when the homesickness starts to kick in. The freshman will feel like they don’t really fit in because they haven’t connected yet. But our class goes against that norm, our class clicked almost instantly and I can already say I love each and every one of my freshmen. “You talk about culture, well you must be doing something right, when people fit,” and us seven freshmen, we definitely fit. |
Camille's Perspective“Ideal culture is one of acceptance, and support. Trust is paramount; communication is important. One in which people are not comfortable with where they are now, but they consistently strive to be better, not just for themselves for their team.”
Christy Thomaskutty is the main reason I chose to come to Emory University. She is one of the best coaches I have ever had, and I am saying this before I have even played my first season for her. When you get her talking about Emory Women’s Basketball, her love for the game is far past self-evident; that, in and of itself, is one of the reasons I knew Emory was the school for me after just the first time I visited. But the main reason I believe she is such a good coach is because she has established, and inexorably enforces “The Emory Way” (go here to learn more about this). When Mikaila and I sat down with her for our interview, this was not the first time we had discussed what our team calls “our culture”. Our team is currently reading a book called Championship Culture that we meet about every week to discuss. So, when we ask Coach T what she thinks the ideal culture is for our team, her answer was no surprise at all. This is what makes her such a good coach, even for a freshman like me, she ensures all her players are aware of what our teams’ purpose, vision, and goals are. For our next question, Coach T gave us a different kind of answer. We ask her what she is doing and what she plans to do differently this season. The season before last Thomaskutty led the Eagles to the school's first UAA championship in women's basketball. This casted a dark shadow over last season, in which the Eagles came up short in UAA’s. However, her answer was simple, “I think every year I learn from previous years. But this season, I am so excited about the lack of experience, the youth, because it’s up to us to define who we want to be, and what our ceiling is going to be.” She went into a more specific description of what she plans to do differently this season compared to last, but at this point in the interview, I could feel myself getting distracted, thinking about what she had just said. She has a way of doing that when you talk to her about basketball. In just a simple conversation with Coach T, you can feel how passionate she is, not only about the game of basketball, but Emory Women’s basketball. And, for a young player like me, that is infectious. Passion for the game is something I value almost above anything else. It is something that can be easily overlooked, but when it is not, a passionate team is one with an infinite drive to win. That is what led the Eagles to the first UAA championship back in 2012, and that is what is going to make our team this year. |