Parent Resources
- Winning Vs Fulfillment: How Society Teaches Us to Focus on the Wrong Things in Youth Sports
- The One Quality Great Teammates Have in Common
- Pat's Definite Dozen
- Why Sports Matter
- Red Flags for Over-Invested Sports Parents
- Adopting an Olympian's Mindset
- What Makes A Nightmare Sports Parent -- And What Makes A Great One
- Where the 'elite' kids shouldn't meet
- Hyperspecialization Is Ruining Youth Sports—And the Kids Who Play Them
- 5 Things the Non-Athlete Parent Needs to Know About Youth Sports
- How Not To Embarrass Your Sports Kid From The Sideline!
- Release Your Child to the Game!
- Developing Warriors, not Winners, is the Path to Excellence
Junior Lady Knights make no specific recommendations or endorsements of the following. This is simply a list of what we know is available.
Please read and consider this, especially if you are new to Spring/Summer Basketball.
While Junior Lady Knights make so specific endorsement of any of the following clubs, we have had players participate with all of these in the past.
The Easy Bus Isn't Coming
Breakthroughs almost never arrive on schedule…
In 2017, Cherie DeVaux was exhausted both mentally and physically. She had been working in the horse training business and had hopes of becoming a head trainer and running her own barn. Working for Chad Brown, one of the top trainers in the sport, was gratifying. It was a true learning experience, but she wanted more. She had dreams of being the first female trainer to win the Derby. As the days lingered, those dreams seemed further away.
Her entire life involved horse racing. Growing up in Saratoga Springs, New York, DeVaux entertained attending medical school, then followed her heart into horse training. After all, it was part of her DNA, from a family of horse lovers. But, after 13 years of early mornings, no sleep, and no family time, she was ready to forgo her dream and start anew. Her dreams always seemed linear; her reality didn’t. When she told her husband, David Ingordo, it was time to transition into something else, he urged her to “keep on going,” giving her the push she needed to stay in the game.
In 2018, she opened her own barn, then after 29 tries she finally secured her first win as a trainer in 2019. She finally broke through, and last Saturday, she made history, becoming the first female trainer to win the Derby.
Cherie’s husband wasn’t a prophet or someone with a crystal ball. What he did understand, and what many who live in a competitive world sometimes lose sight of, was that success is never linear. There are upward surges, then setbacks. There are stalemates, surges, backward falls, more surges, and endless days of zero progress.
Duke’s women’s basketball coach Kara Lawson discusses this with her team. She has become passionate about voicing the fact that success and growth are never linear. She is always reminding her players, “We all wait in life for things to get easier. It will never get easier. What happens is you handle hard better.”
When we remove the struggle, we remove the growth. The goal isn’t to make things easy, only to become stronger.
Lawson teaches her team that success and growth aren’t constants. Her teachings are focused on four areas:
- Be better at handling “hard”: Neither life nor sports become easier; instead, you develop the strength and discipline to manage difficult situations more effectively. DeVaux’s husband was urging her to embrace the hard. Give it one more time. Give it one more try.
- Capacity over ease: Lawson uses the analogy of running a mile. The mile never gets shorter or easier, but as you get in better shape, your body becomes more capable of handling the physical strain.
- Mental shift: She teaches that waiting for "easy" leads to discouragement. Real success goes to those who embrace the "hard" and don't expect it to disappear. We all want life to become easier. We long for the moment to arrive when we can sit back and relax. Those moments offer zero growth. Lawson calls this the easy stop. People wait for the “easy bus” to come along. Guess what? It never comes.
- Endurance in urgency: Continuous growth requires a persistent, urgent drive, especially during periods when progress feels stagnant or setbacks occur. This is the area that separates the winners from the losers. It divides the ones who keep going and those who stop. How badly do you want this? Cherie’s husband knew she wanted it badly; he only needed to remind her.
DeVaux’s journey is a testament to the power of perseverance, resilience, and embracing hard moments. What makes it more powerful is that her life partner understood. We all need a little reminder each day to understand success is never linear. Her story, and the lessons echoed by Coach Lawson, remind us that greatness is achieved not by waiting for the easy path but by meeting challenges head-on and growing through them.
We all love the story of a winner. Because of Cherie’s win, we are reminded of the power of “stick-to-itiveness.” That’s a way of describing the willingness to understand that success comes after enduring and embracing the hard moments without rewards.
Had Golden Tempo finished second or third, Cherie wouldn’t be on every show or magazine cover. Yet her work and willingness to keep fighting would have been as strong. The win allowed us to see her willingness to embrace the hard and endure the lack of linear growth we all face. Don’t just embrace the fact that she won; embrace her will to keep going.
No matter how winding the road or how daunting the setbacks, true progress comes from refusing to give up and continually striving for better.
Taken from The Daily Coach – May 7, 2026
Subscribe to The Daily Coach - HERE
FAQs
Yes, absolutely. In fact, we highly encourage our athletes to play multiple sports.
However, we do believe that our players should only have one "in-season" sport at a time. This means that during basketball season, we expect our players to have JLK as their primary sports commitment.
Yes, many of our players successfully navigate playing for both. We do expect that our players give JLK preference in the event of a conflict and that there is ample communication with the coaching staff.
All of our teams use a standard women's 28.5" ball. All of our players are provided a ball to bring and use at practice. It is NOT to be used outside. If it is lost or damaged, it is expected that it will be replaced with a ball of equal or higher quality. The use of rubber basketballs is not allowed.