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From the Bench: Athletic Trainer, Physical Therapist Brooke Davis Back at Home as Hoops Coach

By Jeff Toquinto on January 29, 2017 from Sports Blog via Connect-Bridgeport.com

It wasn’t too long ago that Bridgeport High School’s basketball team was led by a crafty southpaw in the post named Brooke Davis. If the name sounds familiar to those with ties to the Indians’ athletic program it may stem from the fact that Davis has served the last three years as the athletic trainer for the Indians football team.
 
And if her name sounds familiar and you think her name sounds familiar, it’s because Davis is back on the basketball court. In fact, she’s been back since November and not part of some adult league or semi-professional squad.
 
Rather, Davis has found a spot back in some very comfortable and familiar confines – Bridgeport High School. Although the 2016-17 girls basketball season is past the midway point, Brooke Davis is back with the Indians’ program. This time she’s serving as an assistant to Coach Dennis Hutson.
 
“She’s doing a great job for us,” said Hutson, who said the official hiring came about in September. “She knows the game and the kids have responded to her extremely well.”
 
Funny thing, Brooke Davis knew Dennis Hutson extremely well prior to ever working for and with him. During her time as a player with the Indians, she was likely a thorn in the side of Hutson on occasion as he was busy coaching the Robert C. Byrd program and knew him when he taught at BHS and was an assistant with Coach Gene Randolph.
 
“Dennis has made it very easy what my role is and what I need to do. As each game goes on and I get more comfortable to the system it just feels like it’s where I’m supposed to be,” said Davis.
 
Davis had always been around the basketball court. In fact, she played from the time she was 5-years-old until she graduated in 2009 from BHS. In fact, it seemed like she would continue playing for at least four more years as she signed to play college basketball for West Virginia Wesleyan.
 
The plans, and eventually her hope to keep playing, were put on the shelf. And it had nothing to do with being over her love of the game of basketball.
 
“I knew right away that with my athletic training major and the requirements academically that it wasn’t going to fit into a schedule if I included the hours I would need for basketball practice, let alone the games,” said Davis, who works at Bridgeport Physical Therapy. “As much as I didn’t want to give it up, my future wasn’t in basketball. My future was with the job I would get as a result of my degree.”
 
Being away from the game provided a symptom – withdrawal. While it wasn’t overpowering, it was always there and she was always trying to figure out a way that she might get back in.
 
“I had been thinking about finding a way to get involved again and when the position became available, I thought it was the opportunity to get back into something that I love and a place where I’ve always been comfortable,” said Davis. “What’s great is that I knew right away it fit. I’m use to the entire atmosphere again and, at first, I may have sat and watched, but now I’m more vocal. Coach (Hutson) made it easy to transition back. At times I feel like I’m back when Coach (Dave) Marshall was here.”
 
Marshall was the long-time BHS coach who spent more than 20 years as an assistant and head man with the program. Lessons learned, she said, from the old-school style coach are paying off now.
 
“You never know what you learn that will benefit you, but the big thing with coaching that I got from him is time management,” she said. “The other thing that I learned from him and it’s something I stress is that you don’t always get what you want, but if you want to get what you want you’re going to have go out and earn it. That applies in just about everything.”
 
So does Davis see herself one day as a head coach; following in the footsteps of Marshall or Hutson? Right now, she’s pretty well set.
 
“I can see myself staying as an assistant for a while. I’m comfortable, but if I ever decide I want to be a head coach I need a higher level of comfort and have to work my way up with experience to be able to do that,” said Davis. “Right now, I’m just enjoying being around basketball again. When you’ve been around the game as long as I have been and then you don’t have it, you’re thankful for the opportunity.”
 
Editor's Note: Top photo shows Brooke Davis having a word with Coach Dennis Hutson prior to Wednesday's game, while she's shown back in her playing days in the second photo. Davis is shown in the team huddle in the bottom picture.Top and bottom photo by Matthew S. DeMaria of www.benqueenphotography.com. Middle photo courtesy of the BHS Journalism Department and Mrs. Alice Rowe. 


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