Meet Coach Sancho: A Real-Life Legend

BY LAURA SPAULDING EDUCATIONAL CONSULTANT/STAFF WRITER

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Last month, our very own PE Coach, Sancho Lyttle, was invited to spend four days in Mexico City where she was honored at the Mavericks v. Pistons game alongside other basketball legends such as Carlos Aroyo and Shawn Marion. Her humble and quiet disposition has meant that up until now, many of her students and colleagues were completely oblivious to have been sharing space with a real-life legend!  

Each year, the NBA hosts regular season basketball games in other countries to spread the love of the game to a larger international audience.  Along with recognizing former legends during halftime, the NBA also refurbished a basketball court in the local community where Coach Sancho helped host a children’s clinic and played some pickup ball with the neighborhood kids.

While TJS students have the privilege of playing pick-up basketball with Coach Sancho several times a week, joining in her after school basketball class, or having Coach Sancho in the stands at their own games, many of the children at the clinic in Mexico City had never played basketball before. But it was not her amazing coaching skills that got her invited to the Mexico City Game between Dallas and Detroit. It was her impressive 15 season career with the WNBA playing for The Houston Comets, Atlanta Dream, and The Phoenix Mercury. 

 

 

 

 

 

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Coach Sancho appreciates the NBA’s efforts to get a fan base in every country, given that she had never played basketball until she moved to the United States as a college student in the early 2000s. Born in St. Vincent, until then, the only sports she participated in competitively were track and field and netball. She was taught to play basketball after moving to the US, and then was soon recruited by the University of Houston where she currently holds multiple records. She was a first-round draft pick for the WNBA in 2005 playing with three teams over 15 seasons and simultaneously earning four European titles with teams in Turkey, Russia, and Spain.  

After Coach Sancho retired from professional basketball, she took a year to reflect, rest, and consider what’s next. While she did not particularly miss the limelight or pressure that came with her impressive career, she did miss being on the court. There was something about being on the clock and playing the sport she loved with her team that made everything else fade away-- even her problems.  

Shortly after retirement, Coach Sancho began subbing for The Joy School. She was soon offered a full-time PE coaching position, and four years later she can’t imagine doing anything else. It has brought her great joy to expose her students to all sorts of sports and games they may otherwise have never had the chance to play. But her very favorite part of working at The Joy School is when she sees her students fully engaged and enjoying themselves. She says, “Those moments when the kids are happy—that’s the closest I get to the feeling I used to get on the court.”  

So while our very own Coach Sancho continues to be celebrated for her impressive basketball accolades, she is currently showing up to The Joy School day after day eager to celebrate the accolades of each one of her students. And in her student’s minds, she is not only a former basketball legend, she is a current coaching legend as well!   

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To learn more about how The Joy School enables students with learning differences to reach their academic and social potential, join us for an upcoming parent tour where you can see all of our amazing staff in action.