Most of the time when students see Nevaeh Morgan, she’s in the company of her best friend or basketball teammates. During the winter, she can be found in the gym after school, surrounded by her friends. This is only half of the relationships Morgan has created with the help of basketball.
It all started in second grade when Morgan first began playing.
“I was a tall child,” Morgan said. “I was taller than everyone else, so I guess they’re just like, ‘you’re going to play.’”
Even though she started young, Morgan immediately fell in love with the sport. She loves the physicality and competitiveness, no matter how physically demanding it is. An added bonus is the bond it creates between Morgan and her mother.
“My mom used to play in high school, and she always comes to my games,” Morgan said. “You can always hear her screaming [for me], and she’s my biggest supporter.”
Another important supporter is her head coach for basketball, Jeff Hoyh. As much as Morgan appreciates all the help he’s given her over the years, Coach Hoyh is happy to be able to coach her and admires her work ethic.
“She always wants to improve and she’s always working to improve, whether that be by day, year, month, or practice by practice. She wants to do something better today to get better for tomorrow,” Hoyh said. “[Her] willingness and coachability [is incredible]. She’s one of the most coachable kids we have on the team and she’s willing to take any criticism and work to better herself.”
Morgan knows a big learning point is being able to take constructive criticism. She appreciates that her coaches took the time to teach her that and knows they only want the best for her.
“I love both of them,” Morgan said. “They’re super helpful people and they know how to help me get better and make me a better player [and] person.”
A huge part of any sports team is the relationships between the teammates. For the girls’ basketball team, Morgan has nothing but good things to say.
“We’re all friends,” Morgan said. “We talk to each other in school, and most of us have known each other for a really long time.”
Junior Jada Barnes Ross is one of Morgan’s closest friends and teammates, having been friends since before they started playing. As such, Barnes Ross has a front-row seat to everything Morgan brings to the team.
“She helps the team stay in line,” Barnes Ross said. “With any team, they can catch attitudes, and our talk has been kind of low, and she’s been helping with communication.”
Being a captain as a junior is pretty rare, but the rest of the team knows she deserves it and will continue to earn it. However, Morgan was shocked to hear it, even as Coach Hoyh calls the choice “obvious.”
“It was very funny to see she was surprised to become captain,” Barnes Ross said. “I knew she was a captain for sure, and her mind’s always on basketball no matter what. You can see she puts the dedication and work in for it.”
With all the work she puts into basketball, Morgan learns a lot from it too. She’s excited to keep learning from it throughout her high school and college years.
“[Basketball] teaches me good sportsmanship and teamwork,” Morgan said. “Things that you need, like communication and those like big life lessons you need for a job and school.”
Coach Hoyh agrees.
“[She is] that emotional leader and she’s going to be dealing with all types of different personalities and [do] whatever she needs to do, as team captain. You don’t run into a lot of kids like that,” Hoyt said. “She has a drive inside to be successful, so she’ll do whatever she can to be the best person there is.”
