Where are they now? -- Danielle DeVader

Today's post is written by Danielle DeVader:



My playing career, which lasted 5 years due to multiple knee surgeries, felt like an eternity! As a result, you might think I would have story after story to tell you about my teams, coaches, and teammates…and you would be right, I DO!! However, that being said, it is so hard to put my 5 years at Missouri Southern into words. I feel truly blessed that I got the opportunity to continue my education and my basketball career at such a wonderful university. I have only been out of the program for 1 year, but I already see myself using many of the concepts that my coaches taught me on and off the basketball court everyday! The life lessons that I learned will stick with me as long as I live.

Those of you that met me after high school will probably find this hard to believe but entering Southern my freshman year, I was as shy and reserved as humanly possible. Coach Hubbard always enjoys telling the story of the official visit I took to Southern during my senior year of high school. Every time the coaches asked me a question, I looked at my mom in hopes that she would answer for me. It was so bad that I even whispered a question in my mom’s ear that I wanted her to ask for me! I just wasn’t totally sure on the whole “moving away from home” idea. By the time my senior year rolled around, I was about as outgoing as it comes. I blossomed into a vocal leader in our program, both on and off the court. I grasped what the coaches had been telling me all along and went with it…and I have never looked back!

Today I find myself blessed with an amazing job. I am an elementary physical education teacher for the Joplin R-VIII School District and coach 7^th grade volleyball and Junior Varsity Basketball. Next year I will be teaching physical education/health at the high school, and coaching both freshman volleyball and J.V. basketball. When I played I displayed great enthusiasm and energy for the game of basketball. Things have not changed now that I am on the sideline. I get that passion from Coach Mitts. I ’ll always remember the times she walked all the way down the court (or even on the court) to protest a call and stick up for her players. And what about her amazing stare that she has used in the direction of the officials? Well guess what? I do the same thing when I am coaching and don’t even realize it. My girls this year had to yell at me to get off the floor, and I didn’t even know I was out there! I was simply coaching my girls! Luckily, I knew some of the referees from my playing days and they would just tell me to scoot back a little. One lesson that my coaches at Southern always stressed was the importance of relationships, and now I know why... It helped me not pick up a technical :) Thanks for passing on that important tidbit!

I constantly repeat the phrases that I heard for 5 years at Southern when I’m coaching my girls. “Jump to the ball”, “fake a pass to make a pass”, “wait on your screen”, “play strong”, “never stop short of the line”, and the list could go on and on. One idea that I teach our girls (and I think about daily) is to work your hardest no matter the situation. I tell my kids all of the time that work ethic has nothing to do with talent. If you outwork the talented kids, you will out perform them as well. I learned that from my coaches. We never had the most talented teams when I played at Southern but we played extremely hard, and good things came as a result. The best compliment I can receive now as a coach is being told, "your kids really played extremely hard, with great sportsmanship and respect." I will never forget when I taught my players to say "thank you" to the referee after being given the ball to throw inbounds and on free throws. They had confused looks on their faces. They had never dreamed of doing anything like that. That is what was instilled in me as a Lion and now I instill it in them. Multiple times this year referees would compliment my players on that very thing and I can’t tell you how great it made me feel! And, just like Coach Mitts always said would happen, I’m pretty sure we picked up a couple calls that maybe wouldn’t have gone our way!

On a subject that could go on for days, let me leave you with this. Your shot is like a baby. Would you go days without feeding, changing, and caring for an infant? Well, heck no you wouldn’t! Then why would you go days and days without caring for your shot?!? That is one of my all-time favorites of Coach Mitts’ endless analogies. I haven’t been caring for my shot lately so when we played pick up recently my shot was a little hungry and needed a diaper change! It was brick after brick after brick. Then a made shot followed by an air ball! Man I should have listened to Coach Mitts!

Until next time...It's a GREAT day to be a LION!!

Danielle DeVader
Class of 2005

Where are they now? -- Katie Gariss-Marsh

Today's post is written by Katie Gariss-Marsh:

Hello! My name is Katie Marsh, or Katie Gariss when I played at Southern. I am thankful for the chance to contribute to the blog, although it does make me feel old. When you are asked to give an update on where you are in life it’s for an obvious reason—several years have passed! I just turned 30 this year and while I don’t necessarily love writing that “3” in front of my age, God has continued to be gracious to me and the last 8 years have been some great ones. I am currently working as a physician assistant at Orthopedic Specialists of the Four States and specifically, I work for Dr. Jonathan Grantham. I started working with him directly out of P.A. school and have continued for the past 5 years. It’s a great job and I absolutely love it. In 2005 I got married to an amazing man and we now have 2 children (see pic below!). My oldest is a 2 year old girl named Kinley and I have a 1 year old son named Hunter. We continue to live in Joplin.

It is true that 8 years have passed since I played my last basketball game at Missouri Southern State University. I still get nostalgic thinking back to those years. Attending and playing basketball for Southern was undoubtedly one of the best experiences of my life. I am so thankful that I received that opportunity. And while that “season” of life is over, the values that I learned are pertinent to every season of life that I enter. One of the first lessons I remember from Coach Mitts is the one of “little victories”—meaning, don’t expect to do great in the big things until you learn to do great in the little things. In other words, success doesn’t come over night; it comes after a chain of conscious decisions to do the right thing...even when it seems inconsequential or even when no one is paying attention. Another lesson I remember being emphasized by the coaching staff was our need, as players, to be coachable. So much can be learned when you are willing to be taught and respond with obedience. It can be tough to swallow sometimes; it certainly requires humility, yet, it’s vital to success in life. The third thing I would mention that was emphasized by the coaching staff was the value in plain old hard work. They didn’t expect me to do everything perfectly, but they did ask that I do it with a high level of intensity and effort. And they didn't ask me to work hard just for the sake of working hard, although there is some merit in that. They knew (and I have come to learn) that working hard at something can produce a passion for the activity that would not have come otherwise and that working hard covers over a multitude of natural shortcomings. So, do I still need and use these lessons? Absolutely! To be good at my job as a physician assistant or to be a good wife and mother, I must be willing to work hard, to be moldable, and to succeed in the “little victories” all along the way. Thanks, coaches, for driving these home to me and for setting good examples of them through your own lives!

Looking forward to the upcoming season!

Until next time...It's a GREAT day to be a LION!

Katie Gariss-Marsh
Class of 2002

Where are they now? -- Jayme Callahan

Today's post is written by Jayme Callahan (class of 2002):

I am currently the recruiting coordinator for the Southeast Missouri State University Women's Basketball program. I have been here for two years, heading into my third season with the program. Prior to being here at SEMO, I was the Head Women's Basketball coach at Webster University, a Division III institution in St. Louis for two seasons. I am sure you all remember watching my team take a beating for the Lady Lions at the "think pink" night in 2007. It was interesting, but it was great to be back, glad it was for a bigger cause! Before taking over at Webster, I coached at the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL), a Division II institution, for one season. To start my coaching off I was a high school head coach at Putnam County (Unionville, MO), home of the midgets, yes...that's right, our mascot was the midgets! It was a great community out in the country, which i was not used to. After that year, I returned to my alma mater to help two rival schools merge into one, Trinity High School. During my coaching stints at Trinity High and UMSL, I was also an exercise specialist at Barnes Jewish Hospital for three years, (so, YES...Dr. Hobbs, I did use my degree!!). As you can see I have been all over the place chasing my dream, and believe it or not, ALL in Missouri. I have coached High School, DI, DII, and DIII all in Missouri...that's crazy!

I would not be where I am today, or who I am, if not for Missouri Southern Women's Basketball. Not only did I make amazing friends, and belong to an amazing family, but I walked out of that institution a much better person than when I walked in. As most of you know, I started my journey at Southern under Amy Townsend (head coach prior to Coach Mitts). She was a great person and I learned a lot of life lessons from her. I was very sad when the coaching change happened; I was very close to Coach Townsend. Little did I know that my career mentors were coming in to take over the program. Coach Mitts and Coach Hubbard have helped guide me into the coach that I am today. They taught me discipline, dedication, work ethic, and most importantly, character. I still call them to this day, just to catch up and to ask questions about my profession. They are both my mentors and my friends. I absolutely love to coach, and I chose to do it because of the one year I spent with Coach Mitts and Coach Hubbard. They showed me their PASSION and EXCITEMENT for life and basketball and it rubbed off on me. I now strive to pass that same flame on to my players. Some of my best memories were at Missouri Southern (both on and off the court) mainly because of the amazing teammates that I had the privilege to play and grow with. I miss them all very much. We had some crazy fun times!!! If we could throw our jerseeys back on and play today, I would not hesitate one bit! Thanks to EVERYONE at Missouri Southern: the school, Health Promotions department, Athletic Department, FANS (we have GREAT fans!), MY TEAMMATES AND COACHING STAFF, and everyone that helped during my time at Southern. You have all touched my life and I am forever a Lady Lion!

Until next time...It's a GREAT day to be a LION!!

Jayme Callahan
Class of 2002

Where are they now? -- Katie Deen

Today's post is written by Katie Deen (class of 2005):

(Editor's Note: The next several weeks we are doing a "Where are they now?" section on our blog. This section will be a great update on what some of our former Lions are doing these days!)

Its been an interesting road since my "glorious" college days. I have to say, I still remember being punched on a daily basis and breaking a few noses, namely my own teammates and one of the poor players in an exhibition game (to which my coaches did NOT look so fondly upon), against a team we PAID to play us....not good business, I now know. (In my defense, I was simply doing what my fearless leaders, Coach Mitts and Coach Hubbard had taught me. To "jerk through"). The lessons I have taken away from my college basketball days are priceless as I still hear them ringing in my head on a daily basis. To name a few:

1. Go back the way you came (more on this to follow).

2. "If you are going hard enough and you twist your ankle, it will pop back into place". (verbatim quote by Coach Mitts)

3. You literally can relate ANY teaching point to cake or icing according to Coach Mitts.

4. Physical ability is most often dictated by mental toughness.

5. Keep moving

6. Listen (especially when there is a question involved with a 50/50 chance of getting right)

7. Your coaches are your most valuable assets.

8. Always focus on growth.

9. Effort always trumps talent

10.Do NOT be on your own agenda. It doesn't work.

I wish I had the time to recount my entire college career for you because I could write a novel. I would go back in a second for many reasons; one being the simple fact that, as a collegiate athlete, you are paid to do something you love. I don't know the exact statistics but in today's corporate world, I wouldn't imagine that a high percentage of workers can say this about their jobs or really any part of their lives. In addition, you get to play a game full time, build your self confidence, better yourself, get a degree, and best of all, be told what to do and how to spend your time so as to be successful. It is ironic to me that once we athletes finish our sport and graduate, we move onto a life where we have a career and different type of life where we then must figure out how to utilize our time in an effective and productive manner and many times we then, pay a "coach" to tell us what to do. Now, being that I learned a valuable lesson early to always focus on growth and bettering myself (Thank you Coach Mitts and Hubbard), I have found myself hiring someone else, an expert in whatever it is I am seeking, to tell me what I should do. I am a fitness professional and I have a coach and trainer of my own. I have had a plethora of life coaches, business coaches and trainers, mentors, etc., all of which I handed over a check to, so that they would simply, tell me what to do. This is fascinating to me because only 5 short years ago, I had the daily priveledge of knowing that someone was there to plan my day, my workouts, my academics, even my career path. All I had to do was show up. (and hopefully listen and apply!)

Moving on. As an athlete in college, a person takes one of two paths: a) finds another sport b) does not find another sport because they no longer want to so much as leave a seated position, because they have "trained" their entire life. I chose "A". I got to compete in a variety of marathons, triathlons, etc until I had a spill and had to find yet another sport to fill my competitive drive (that evidently doesn't just "go away" once you finish college). I chose to compete in "Figure" shows. This is a cross between bodybuilding and a beauty pageant...(I'm still trying to convince myself its a sport, unfortunately, when you're training consists of dieting, walking in heels, posing in front of a large mirror, and putting loads of eye-shadow on, I'm not quite sure it can reach that classification....I'll let you know when I justify it as a sport). Anyhow, it does require quite a bit of discipline and hard work. Bringing my college training to mind, I found that mind over matter is huge in dieting down to below essential levels of body fat....especially when you are on a diet through Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Birthdays, Easter, etc. all the while working out several hours a day, subsisting on nothing but fish and green vegetables. Talk about mental toughness. (and the fact that all I thought about was food, I remembered Coach Mitts referencing cake, icing, and an oven in many of her illustrations....I still sometimes wonder how defense has anything to do with food, but she sure knew how to get her point across!) But having gone through some rigorous practices and seasons, one thing I learned was that one's mind is much more powerful than we think.

My first competition rolled around and having dieted down for 6 months, trained and conditioned, and practiced my "stage presence" daily, I felt I was as ready as I could be. As luck would have it, I was randomly selected to be the first one out onstage for my class. With a packed audience, I confidently strode out onto the open stage in my 5 inch heels and struck my first, second, third, fourth, and fifth pose, without even a hint of a "basketball player jock walk" (which I was told is NOT acceptable in this sport...fine. I will just walk like an athlete the REST of the day :). Only was it when my competition entered stage left, that I realized I had turned the wrong direction...the entire time. Ironically, I was not suppose to go forward, but "back the way I came". Interesting how this would come up later in my life. I could literally hear Coach Hubbard yelling, "Deen! Go back the way you came!" (for those that are not aware, at MSSU, we had a standard play that we would run that required a guard to come to the top of the key, receive the ball, jerk it through to the other side, and take two dribbles in the direction from which they had come) and I, in my own agenda, had once again, gone the wrong direction in front of an audience. (at least my makeup looked good).

I could literally go on forever with lessons I learned and stories in my life where I have used them, but a big lesson that I continually am aware of that I thankfully was taught as an 18 year old kid entering into college was that its about the journey and not the destination. One never "arrives", we never will know it all, but we should continue to stay positive, keep an open mind for growth and learning, keep moving forward (and making mistakes and learning from them), and we will always be successful. (Just like Coach Mitts said, go as hard as you can and if you twist your ankle, it will pop back into place :)

Until next time...It's a GREAT day to be a LION!!

Katie Deen

Class of 2005