March 2009 Susie Magill Center of Attention Courtney Paris Oklahoma University Sooners
Her name is often stretched across the headlines of sports pages around the nation: Courtney Paris, University of Oklahoma All-American. Of course, it’s hard not to talk about an athlete who frequently adds to her growing list of NCAA records, which already stood at an astonishing 16 at the beginning of her senior year.
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Courtney Paris #3
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Class: Senior
Hometown: Piedmont, Calif.
Height: 6-4
Position: Center
Trivia:
• Three-time All-American
• Career averages through the 2007-08 season: 21.4 ppg, 15.3 rpg, 3.4 bpg
• Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year (2006, 2007, 2008)
• NCAA record-holder for consecutive double-doubles (112)
• Held 16 NCAA records entering her senior year
• Only player in NCAA history to have 700 points, 500 rebounds and 100 blocks in a single season, and she did it twice.
Bet you didn’t know that Courtney...
...would pick Dwight Howard in her dream one-on-one match-up.
...wants to visit Paris and take pictures with signs of her last name.
...lists her favorite OU memory as her team's 19-0 run through the Big 12 in 2006. |
But unlike many egocentric players who drool at the mention of having their name in print, Paris remains unfazed. Yes, it comes with the territory, but to her it is “irrelevant.” She is too focused to get caught up in the hype surrounding achievements. She knows her most significant accomplishments won’t ever be listed in press clippings. Rather, they are humbly imprinted on the lives of those she influences.
*****
Growing up the youngest of eight (her twin, Ashley, is older by only two minutes), Courtney Paris never lacked for pickup game opponents. She remembers playing hoops with her sister and brothers in the driveway of their Piedmont, Calif., home from as early as 3 years old. It was there that her dreams of one day becoming a collegiate player began.
Her siblings, who now range in height from 6’3” to 6’8”, never took it easy on her. The Paris brothers made their youngest sister work for every shot, which, according to Paris, gave her a competitive edge.
Paris’ father, William “Bubba” Paris, known for his three Super Bowl victories as an offensive tackle with the San Francisco 49ers, also showed off his moves in the paint during family games. His attempts, though, proved to be more humorous than helpful.
“He didn’t teach me anything about basketball because he wasawful at it,” Paris chuckled.
But what Paris’ dad lacked in skill on the court, he made up for in life lessons.
“He always talked to us about being born with a purpose,” Paris said of her father, who is currently an evangelist and motivational speaker. “He said that God knew that [purpose] before we were even thought of. And I just have to live that up.”
That philosophy is something Paris has carried with her. And now, as a college senior, she is able to apply it to her life as a
Sooner.
“I feel like basketball is my small purpose on Earth,” said the three-time All-American. “It’s something that I can do to share my faith.”
Bubba Paris was full of wisdom. As a former athlete, he also was able to give advice to his daughter regarding how to compete at the highest level. His years in the NFL taught him that sacrifice was required to perform to the best of one’s ability and that, in order to keep up with the “big dogs,” an athlete would have to do a bit extra each day.
Paris still takes that lesson seriously. She knows the time she puts in will pay great dividends.
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Courtney Paris had an astounding
112 straight double-doubles from
Dec. 5, 2005 to Feb. 2, 2009.
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“I see doing extra things as a sacrifice for the team,” she said. “At the end of the day, it isn’t an individual sport; it is a team sport. So, when I am working extra hard and my teammates are working extra hard, it is going to help all of us.”
For Paris and her teammates, including big sis Ashley, sacrificing is a Sooner way of life. Led by Head Coach Sherri Coale, the OU women’s basketball team is known for its unselfish style of play.
“The whole is always greater than the sum of its parts,” said Coale, who is in her 13th season as the head of the program. "There is a special something that is created when everyone gives a little of themselves for the good of the whole.”
According to Coale, that something special is like having “six guys on the court instead of five,” which explains why the opposition finds the Sooners so tough. It also gives reason for their NCAA-record 26-point comeback against the University of California earlier this season.
During the past decade, Oklahoma women’s basketball has been a dominant force, boasting nine straight NCAA tournament appearances, the most of any Big 12 team. And so far this year, OU has climbed as high as No. 2 in the USA Today polls. It is a stark contrast to the teams of the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1990, OU’s average game attendance topped out at 65. Last season, Paris and her team set a home attendance record by averaging 10,234 fans per game at the Lloyd Noble Center, an achievement rarely seen in women’s basketball. But, being a Sooner, smashing records is just what you do.
*****
When Courtney Paris graduated from Piedmont High School in 2005, she left a legacy that few could match. Averaging 27.4 points and 18.9 rebounds her senior year, there weren’t many 18-year-olds who could stand toe-to-toe, or in this case, eye-to-eye with the 6’4” center. But facing older, more seasoned players wasn’t the biggest adjustment for the high school All-American in transitioning to college.
Also recruited by California and Texas, Paris chose OU because she felt it offered her the complete package: a campus and athletic program that provided an environment conducive to her growth as an athlete, student and Christian. That rich Oklahoma atmosphere proved invaluable for Paris during her freshman year.
“My biggest challenge when I first got to OU was balancing everything,” she said. “With school, basketball, practice and the media — just all the requests you get — it was hard for me to say ‘no.’ I would find myself missing out on things because I didn’t know how to manage my time.”
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"...it isn't an individual sport; it is a team sport. So, when I am working extra hard and my teammates are working extra hard, it is going to help all of us."
– Courtney Paris |
In stepped Coale with a lesson in prioritizing.
“At the beginning of my freshman year and every year since, Coach has told us that your faith comes first, then your family, then academics and then basketball,” Paris said. “That is so important to know, and it’s not like that everywhere you go.”
As a result, Paris began setting personal priority lists and declining things that didn’t fit in her schedule. That decision enabled her to accept an invitation from her teammate Leah Rush, who asked her to attend an OU FCA Huddle meeting.
“I was on OU’s FCA leadership team and knew what it could do for student-athletes,” said Rush, now a member of the WNBA’s Chicago Sky. “I remember writing FCA times and locations on the board in the locker room and trying to get my teammates to come. But, with freshmen — Courtney was a freshman my junior year — I always tried a little harder. They are usually searching for a place where they fit in and want to be included. And if you catch them before they get wrapped up in everything else college throws at them, there’s a better chance they’ll stick with it.”
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"She has a real nice way of being about the final product," Coale (right) said of Paris, "and I think that is very much a Christ-like characteristic."
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Paris accepted the invitation and, as Rush hoped, FCA stuck. The Huddle meetings provided a comfortable place for the tall athlete to worship God, as she was surrounded by other athletes who matched her height.
“When I was first trying out churches here in Norman, it was really uncomfortable because I stood out,” Paris said. “The cool thing about FCA is that you go there with the people you are in study hall with, or the other athletes you watch play, or that live in the dorms with you. And it is so important to get around people who work the way you do and have the same priorities and understand the life of being a Christian and a student-athlete.”
This year, Paris is raising her commitment to FCA to a new level by serving on the Huddle’s leadership team. It’s a big step out of her comfort zone. She’s at ease with her leadership role on the court, but being bold about her faith hasn’t always been as natural.
“I have kind of struggled in that,” Paris said. “So being on leadership has put me in a place where I can step up in my faith and spread it to the people around me.”
Paris has also taken time to share her testimony at local high school Huddles in Norman. She talks about the personal lessons she’s learned, about setting priorities and the value of living out her faith through sports. She also adds that athletes don’t have to be over 6 feet tall for people to take notice of the decisions they make.
“She does a good job of sharing what is important to her,” said FCA Area Director Kent Bowles of Paris, who is projected to be the first post player taken in the 2009 WNBA draft. “I remember her speaking to an FCA group last year and saying, ‘I know people watch me. People know who I am when I walk into places, so I am held accountable by that.’ That really stood out to me because a lot of kids think, ‘Hey, she is Courtney Paris. She can do whatever she wants.’ But Courtney took it the other direction and said she wanted to do the right thing because of the example she sets to those she might not even know.”
*****
Don’t be misled by her strong jaw and stern expression. Paris is gentle and soft-hearted ... off the court. On the court is a different story. She didn’t become the first collegiate player, male or female, to tally 700 points, 500 rebounds and 100 blocked shots in a single season by having a powder-puff attitude on the floor.
Outside of basketball, she catches people off-guard with her unassuming disposition. She is a soft-spoken young woman who loves to read, watches HGTV and is passionate about becoming a novelist one day. She doesn’t sweat the small stuff and strives to find the good in every situation. She owns a home with her sister, one they bought with money they saved by waiting tables at Sooner Legends, a barbecue restaurant in Norman. She says that “keeping a messy room” is her worst habit, and she wishes she could sing better. She’d more likely choose to relax at home with a few friends than be out in a crowd.
It’s the unlikely profile of a player who broke the Big 12 career blocks record midway through her junior year and welcomed 2009 by extending her NCAA-record double-double streak to 105. But Paris doesn’t attribute much value to personal awards and broken records. They don’t sum up the complete person.
“The reason Courtney is a big deal is because she is consistent in being herself every day,” Bowles said. “She may decline the spotlight. She may be quiet. But she will always be a bold player. She doesn’t need a lot of talk; her actions speak for themselves. She is able to be an imposing player but maintain a gentle personality. And that is what makes her Courtney Paris.”
Coale agrees.
“Courtney is not defined by what she does on the basketball court,” she said. “She does play basketball, but that is not who she is. Courtney is humble. She doesn’t even broach arrogance with all she has accomplished. She doesn’t want it to be about her. She wants it to be about her team. The double-doubles aren’t important to her. If she plays poorly and we win, you will never see her dejected. She has a real nice way of being about the final product, and I think that is very much a Christ-like characteristic.”
Whether it is sacrificing sweat and blood with a close-knit family of players in pursuit of a national championship or being a strong presence for FCA on campus, Courtney Paris counts every moment of her OU experience a blessing.
“Sometimes, I think that I don’t deserve the things that happen to me, like my career here at Oklahoma,” she said. “But God has shown me so much favor, and I am just so blessed and happy to be a part of it and work for Him.” 
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'Coales' of Wisdom |
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Coach Sherri Coale
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Hometown: Healdton, Okla.
College: Oklahoma Christiana University
OU tenure: 13 seasons
Career Record (through the 2007-08 season): 254-127
Trivia:
• Became the Big 12's winningest coach in 2008
• In 2002, led Sooners to their first Final Four, losing in the finals to Connecticut
• Her teams have been to nine straight NCAA Tournaments.
• Current president of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) |
Known for her dedication to the success of Oklahoma women’s basketball, Head Coach Sherri Coale has also gained a reputation for her ability to balance her role as coach with those of teacher, spiritual role model and motivator. Below, Coale provides insight into how she runs her program and why she hopes to leave a legacy that will exceed her team’s on-court achievements.
COACH SHERRI COALE ON...
The importance of pushing players to be better outside of basketball:
“If basketball were only about a season or a championship or even a career, it would be way too much time, effort and investment. It has to be about something more. And for us, we realize we have students-athletes for, at most, five years, so we try to get in life skills — ways to go out and make a significant difference in the world. We want to arm our players, and there is no better training ground for how to live and make a difference than the field of athletics.”
Wearing a lot of hats:
“My mantra is, ‘Whatever you are doing is the most important thing while you are doing it.’ When I am coaching, I need to be coaching. When I am being a mom, I need to be a mom. When I am being WBCA president, I need to be president. You can’t try to do them all at once. You have to live in such a way as to support all those roles, but you have to focus on the thing you are doing while you are there.”
Defining success:
“It’s making a difference in people’s lives. If you coach for 25 years and never win a championship but you influence three people for Christ, that is success. It’s not about the wins and losses, but about what you teach people.”
FCA:
“When I was a high school teacher and coach, I saw the difference FCA can make in a kid’s life. I watched students who didn’t even know what the Bible was really grow and develop a personal relationship with Christ. That was when I really got hooked on FCA.” |
--For more stories about faith and sport, visit www.sharingthevictory.com, the official magazine of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. To subscribe to STV, click here.
Photos courtesy of Jerry Laizure.
