Tina Charles: UConn - A Family & The Game of Life

[RockyMTblue2]

Tina Charles drove me crazy for 2 years and then went on to dominate the court for two defining years. She is still an illustrious professional athlete, but it is her deeds away from basketball that impress me the most.

The Day has a very good article, almost interview with Tina.

Check it out: Charles returns with Team USA, but also to celebrate her UConn days

"To Charles, much of who she is today can be traced back to the place and people she’ll reunite with Monday night.

“I always say that Coach Auriemma didn’t just teach the game of basketball, but the game of life,” Charles said. “(He imparted) being disciplined, being responsible, holding myself accountable in all ways. Just being there for one another and just showing up for one other.”

 

[eebmg]

I liked this 2010 Final 4 interview. The parts with Tina are great in particular

ASAP Sports Transcripts - Basketball - 2010 - NCAA WOMEN'S FINAL FOUR - April 3 - Geno Auriemma - Tina Charles - Kalana Greene - Maya Moore

ASAPSports FastScripts, a system using state-of-the-art technology created to produce verbatim FastScripts of press conferences and player/team interviews at sporting events around the globe.

www.asapsports.com

Q. Last weekend with Tina Charles as a player for you, and I would ask you to reflect on that relationship from where you started and where you ended up?
COACH AURIEMMA: A lot has been said about that. I did think about that, too, as a matter of fact. Last weekend I thought about it, that this is the last week. The last week of practice. Maybe the last two games.
And I do think back to freshman year and how quickly things changed, that in practice I thought, wow, this kid's going to be something special. In the first two exhibition games, I was like, wow, we haven't had anybody like her in a long time. This kid is an offensive rebounding machine.
It didn't dawn on me until the third or fourth game that all the offensive rebounds were her missed shots. And that's when the problem started, because she was patting herself on her back for all of the offensive rebounds and I was bitching about every missed layup.
So it fell apart quickly that freshman year. But from then on I think the expectations that she has for herself are so much higher than they were back then. She's so much more mature. She's someone that now you don't have to necessarily kind of badger all the time. You can just point some things out to her, whereas before you would point something out, it would go in one ear and out the other because she couldn't understand why you were saying what you were saying or why you were doing what you're doing.
And she's such a nice kid that you couldn't even get her mad. You just shook your head and said, man, it's really hard to get mad at this kid because she's such a nice kid.
And she wants to please me so bad that it was really hard for me to go to practice and say, You're the worst player I've ever coached in my life. I know you love me, but I hate you as a player. And I think you're a great kid and I think you're sweet and a good student, and I wish I could take you home, but, man, I hate the way you play basketball.
It was a constant back and forth like that until all of a sudden it dawned on her, you know, I think Coach is right; I don't necessarily like myself as a basketball player as much as I could.
And now I think she understands. But everybody has their own timetable, you know. I'm just glad that hers didn't run out before she finished her eligibility.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I liked this 2010 Final 4 interview. The parts with Tina are great in particular

ASAP Sports Transcripts - Basketball - 2010 - NCAA WOMEN'S FINAL FOUR - April 3 - Geno Auriemma - Tina Charles - Kalana Greene - Maya Moore

ASAPSports FastScripts, a system using state-of-the-art technology created to produce verbatim FastScripts of press conferences and player/team interviews at sporting events around the globe.

www.asapsports.com

Q. Last weekend with Tina Charles as a player for you, and I would ask you to reflect on that relationship from where you started and where you ended up?
COACH AURIEMMA: A lot has been said about that. I did think about that, too, as a matter of fact. Last weekend I thought about it, that this is the last week. The last week of practice. Maybe the last two games.
And I do think back to freshman year and how quickly things changed, that in practice I thought, wow, this kid's going to be something special. In the first two exhibition games, I was like, wow, we haven't had anybody like her in a long time. This kid is an offensive rebounding machine.
It didn't dawn on me until the third or fourth game that all the offensive rebounds were her missed shots. And that's when the problem started, because she was patting herself on her back for all of the offensive rebounds and I was bitching about every missed layup.
So it fell apart quickly that freshman year. But from then on I think the expectations that she has for herself are so much higher than they were back then. She's so much more mature. She's someone that now you don't have to necessarily kind of badger all the time. You can just point some things out to her, whereas before you would point something out, it would go in one ear and out the other because she couldn't understand why you were saying what you were saying or why you were doing what you're doing.
And she's such a nice kid that you couldn't even get her mad. You just shook your head and said, man, it's really hard to get mad at this kid because she's such a nice kid.
And she wants to please me so bad that it was really hard for me to go to practice and say, You're the worst player I've ever coached in my life. I know you love me, but I hate you as a player. And I think you're a great kid and I think you're sweet and a good student, and I wish I could take you home, but, man, I hate the way you play basketball.
It was a constant back and forth like that until all of a sudden it dawned on her, you know, I think Coach is right; I don't necessarily like myself as a basketball player as much as I could.
And now I think she understands. But everybody has their own timetable, you know. I'm just glad that hers didn't run out before she finished her eligibility.

Geno in rare form for sure. Thanks for bringing it back to life @eebmg .

 

[Steelerone]

And that, my friends, is why the best chose Uconn.