Built in the Dark: What Cody Girls Basketball Is Building

The work everybody sees starts with the extra repetition, hard conversations, and everyday standards nobody sees.

There are parts of basketball everybody sees. The uniform. The starting lineup. The points. The highlights. The wins. The celebration after a big game.

Then there is everything that happens before that. The extra repetition when nobody is watching. Learning to defend when you would rather score. Coming back after a bad game. Being coached when the correction is not what you wanted to hear. Encouraging a teammate who might be competing for the same minutes you want. Showing up again tomorrow.

That is where Cody Girls Basketball is being built.

More Than a Team

Our goal at Cody is not simply to put five players on the floor and win basketball games. We are building a program.

That means developing basketball players, but it also means developing competitors, teammates, leaders and young women who learn how to handle expectations and adversity.

We want our players to leave Cody better than they arrived. Better shooters. Better defenders. Better decision-makers. But also more confident. More accountable. More disciplined. More prepared for whatever comes next.

You Do Not Have to Arrive Great

You do not have to walk through our doors as a finished basketball player. Actually, we do not expect you to. You do not have to arrive great. You have to be ready to become great.

• Be willing to work.
• Be willing to learn.
• Be willing to compete.
• Be willing to be coached.
• Be willing to become a great teammate.

We will provide the environment. We will teach. We will challenge you. We will believe in your development. But eventually, you have to decide how much you are willing to build.

Our Practices Will Look Different

We want players who can play basketball, not players who can only run basketball plays. That means our practices emphasize decisions.

Players will compete. They will play small-sided games. They will attack advantages. They will learn to recognize mismatches. They will defend multiple situations. They will experience pressure. They will make mistakes. And then they will learn how to make the next play.

We do not want players constantly looking toward the bench asking, “Coach, what do I do?” We want to develop players capable of eventually saying, “Coach, I see it.”

The Standard

Talent matters. But talent without habits eventually gets exposed.

At Cody, we are building standards around preparation, academics, effort, communication, accountability, toughness and being a good teammate. Some days you will feel great. Some days you will not. The standard does not change.

For Our Parents

When a family trusts us with their daughter, they are trusting us with something much more important than a basketball player. They are trusting us with a young woman during some of the most formative years of her life.

We will coach our players. We will challenge them. We will hold them accountable. We will celebrate their growth. We will care about their academics. And we will continually remind them that basketball is something they do—it is not the total definition of who they are.

Come Build With Us

Something is growing at Cody. We are not looking only for the tallest player, fastest player or player with the most points on her middle-school team. We are looking for young women willing to become part of something.

Because long before everybody sees what you become, there will be work nobody sees.

BUILT IN THE DARK. Private Work. Public Strength. Come Build With Us.

Coach Orlando Watkins