Sophia Young-student teacher.

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http://shesgotgame.blogspot.com/2005/09/sophia-young-student-teacher.html

"Wearing Nike from the toe of her glistening red and black sneakers to the collar of her “Just Do It” T-shirt, the 6-foot-1 forward crosses the gymnasium, giving out pointers in everything from stretches to volleyball moves under her Waco High title of “Coach Young.”

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Wish she was my student-teacher!!

BU basketball star puts on ‘game fame' in Waco High classroom

By Dan Genz Tribune-Herald staff writer

Monday, September 05, 2005

Veteran teacher Kay Murphy never expected to have to get the autographs out of the way before class.

Enter her student-teacher, Sophia Young, a star of Baylor University's national championship women's basketball team, who everyone on campus knows from ESPN's Sportscenter and the downtown parade last April.

“The first week, we had to get all the signing and the little stuff out of the way,” Murphy said.

Before Baylor teaching candidates like Young graduate, they have to spend a year in a Waco Independent School District classroom or gymnasium, writing daily lesson plans and practicing their leadership skills with real students, a challenge that puts the 21-year-old star on the unfamiliar end of the coach's whistle.

Wearing Nike from the toe of her glistening red and black sneakers to the collar of her “Just Do It” T-shirt, the 6-foot-1 forward crosses the gymnasium, giving out pointers in everything from stretches to volleyball moves under her Waco High title of “Coach Young.”

Though she's been to the mountain of college athletics, Baylor's first All-America women's basketball player wasn't sure what coaching and teaching would be like at the city's largest public high school.

Three weeks into the school year, Young says with a laugh, “It's so hard.”

“It's one thing to work with the kids who love sports. The challenge is to motivate kids who don't enjoy sports and keep them involved and having fun.”

Young hopes to be a professional player and then a college coach someday and expects her work at Waco High will give her lessons on motivation and discipline. Last year, as a student teacher, she teamed up with Baylor quarterback Shawn Bell as Murphy's interns.

While her celebrity status commands instant respect from the students, “because they know me, they don't want to misbehave in front of me,” Young notes that one of her most important projects is to develop a bond with the teens.

She described the scene Thursday morning when a boy's volleyball serve shot backward, rocketing away from its intended target.

“He was cracking up laughing and I started laughing, too, and we both kind of smiled, because we were both having fun,” Young said.

But in a gymnasium full of egos, fellow teacher Jeff Dunner explains Young's basketball talent makes everyone want to challenge her at hoops.

“Everybody wants to know, is she really that good?” Dunner said. “Even some of the coaches want to try to beat her.”

Young said she rebuffs the challenges every day, knowing she's supposed to lead the students, not pummel them in one-on-one.

“Even though she comes with great (credentials), she still has to become a coach,” Murphy said.

“She could go out there and dunk on them if she wanted to, but we have É some guidelines for students with her. É She'll probably be the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft and we don't want her getting hurt playing with the kids at Waco High,” Murphy said.

Plaudits are coming from some of the top leaders in the district, including Waco ISD board member Alex Williams, a retired football coach, teacher and principal from a 40-year education career in Corsicana applauds her service.

“Anytime that you have an athlete of her standing, that provides a good role model for those kids over there,” Williams said. “That's one of the best things that could happen.”