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Joyce Ekworomadu

DIRECTOR, BASKETBALL OPERATIONS

Joyce attended Texas State University where she averaged 18.9 points a game, was Southland Conference Player of The Year, led the team to the school’s first ever Conference Championship, became the 5th player in Texas state history to record over 1500 points and 600 rebounds, became the 1st player in the Southland Conference to sign a WNBA contract and graduated with a BBA in Marketing. Post college, she played in the WNBA, Poland, Italy, the National Nigerian Basketball Team and is the 12th female of the World Famous Harlem Globetrotters. She has traveled to over 40 countries playing the game of basketball. As the Director of Basketball Operations and Account Manager at Ballogy, she blends her extensive experience in basketball with a deep commitment to operating and constructing player development curriculum. With a focus on strategic planning and execution, she contributes to the continuous enhancement of Ballogy’s training programs and user experience. In her role as an Account Manager, she cultivates lasting relationships with clients, ensuring their success by tailoring solutions to their unique needs. Joyce is dedicated to shaping the future of basketball through innovative technology and collaborative leadership at Ballogy.

by Joyce Ekworomadu on Jul 16, 2024

We had the opportunity to sit down with one of the best coaches in the country, Coach David Peavy of Duncanville High School and talk about his coaching journey. Learn why he still has the motivation to be the best even after winning multiple state championships and Coach of The Year.

What still drives you to get up and lead your group all these years and championship wins later?

What motivates me is I’m passionate about kids and young people and helping them change their lives. That’s why I do this. I win because I know winning helps change people’s lives.

I teach this thing because if I teach it good enough and a kid gets good enough, he gets to go to school for free and it changes his life. I’m passionate about that and being around young men, trying to give them tools to be successful in life and showing them how this stuff that they’re doing and working on really hard is a part of something bigger than themselves and will help them to be successful in life.

If you could describe your program in three words or less, what would that be? 

We fly around.

What one or two pieces of advice would you give yourself in the first year or early years of your coaching journey?

Don’t take myself so seriously and make it about the kids.

What kind of advice or how would you tell a younger coach to develop their relationship with their current staff and even their AD? 

Always be respectful. Be respectful. You know, you can get a lot done with respect. And, you know, be honest, be truthful both ways. Be honest with your staff, be honest with your superiors.

When did you know you had it in you to coach? 

When I was 11. When I was 11-years-old my parents were divorced and my dad was in the Air Force. He was stationed in Dias Air Force Base in Abilene. My older brother and I went to stay with him for the summer. We started going to his basketball practices. I had no idea my dad was the basketball coach. I wanted to be a football star but watching my dad coach basketball that summer and being in his locker rooms, being in his practices, inspired me. I fell in love with coaching basketball before I fell in love with basketball.

I am a basketball nerd. So when I got my license and I got my first car at 16, on my nights off when we weren’t playing, I found myself driving to basketball games and studying the coaches. I would sit behind the bench and watch them coach. I had a really good high school coach too. And his staff was really, really good. I learned from a lot of really good coaches.

Matt Sayman was my AAU coach in middle school. I had a chance to play for him back in the day. He’s one of my favorite coaches ever.  I’ve learned so much from him and just his culture and faith.

I know through your relationship to Matt you were introduced to the Ballogy. What are your first thoughts on the platform?

To me, it’s a no brainer. You know, it’s just implementing it. A huge part of what we do is skill development. But everybody needs more. I can’t stand walking into the gym and watching a kid waste time.

What Ballogy has done is give kids who don’t have a skills trainer some structure, a plan, you know, go in the gym and let’s not waste any time. If you’re going to be in there for 45 minutes, then 38 of those minutes need to be really focused and locked in. One thing we preach with our guys is don’t spend two hours and get 10 minutes of work in. So, Ballogy has been good for us.

What advice would you give a fellow coach who is kind of considering incorporating this into their player development process as a program? What would you say to that fellow coach? 

Do it sooner than later! You know, it’s worth every dime. And it costs a lot less than hiring another coach!

My parents, administrators, and kids want to know where their money is going. You know, we do fundraisers. And if we can show them, hey, we’re using the money that y’all raised to put back into development, then it’s a no brainer.

It really is a no brainer. And I wish we would have started using it even sooner.