Seasoned Coach Donald Ott has been teaching girls basketball for 11 years, joined Summer Creek’s girl high school basketball program only this year, and has ended this season making it to state, forming new bonds with players and winning the District 21-6A Coach of the Year title.
“It’s a reflection of our team and the assistant coaches and admin and everybody who supported me and allowed me to do the job…. a lot of trust from the team, a lot of trust from the coaches, and without that trust and without that work ethic from them, none of this is possible, so I’m very grateful for all the people that put me in this program this year,” Ott said.
Ott has been at Summer Creek for less than a year. Working with a team composed primarily of graduating seniors, he has managed to grow and accomplish so much with a limited amount of time.
“Seeing the growth this year, it was incredible just watching where they came from,” Ott said. “When I got here I had such a short amount of time to work with the seniors. I had eight seniors, you don’t have a whole lot of time when you get in here as a new person, so it was just really rewarding to see the growth that they had over the course of the year.”
For the first time in Summer Creek’s history, the girls basketball team advanced to the state championship, and the players believe their newfound leadership is largely responsible.
“It’s his attention to detail….. he really pays attention to the details, that’s what got us as far as we got,” senior Zachra Perkins said. “I think that without that attention to detail, we would not have done what we did.”
Players reflecting on their year of fun and hard work with Ott feel his reward is highly deserved.
“It feels really nice….I really feel like he deserved it,” Perkins said. “He’s done everything. for us that he could possibly do. Especially getting us to state, that’s all him. He’s always trusted us, we’ve always trusted him.”
Beyond the wins and losses and personal career awards, the real enriching gain seems to be the special interpersonal connections coach Ott and his players have formed in such a short amount of time.
“Man, the family aspect it’s not just about basketball, for me personally,” Ott said. “My two daughters, I bring them around the team a lot. Watching the girls basketball team this year really embrace my family.”
