Crawford honored to coach US
Clear Springs coach to be oncourt leader for USA Basketball U17 team
Pamela Crawford was in the middle of a normal day when she got a phone call that shocked her. The caller had some good news that Crawford never expected.
Crawford, the Clear Springs girls basketball coach, has been selected as an on-court coach at the USA Basketball national under-17 team trials this week and next at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
“It’s a great honor,” she said. “I was surprised to get the phone call. At the same time I was excited. It is a phenomenal opportunity to have a chance to be a part of selecting future Olympians.”
Crawford said she had never been contacted by the national team program and had never heard her name mentioned. When she asked how the program knew about her she was told her name always had been on a list.
More than 100 girls will participate in the camp with hopes of being one of the 12-15 players who are selected to represent their country in the FIBA U-17 World Championships in Spain from June 22-July 2.
While this will be Crawford’s first run with USA Basketball as a coach, it is not her first experience. When she was a youth player she played with a USA select team that competed in the Jones Cup in Tapei, Taiwan.
“It’s a dream of probably every coach to get an opportunity to get on that stepping stone of being able to work with the USA,” Crawford said. “It is a goal, but it is not something I would have though about.”
USA Basketball likely was impressed by Crawford’s resume at Clear Springs. Since starting the team in 2007, she has molded the Chargers into one of the Houston area’s elite programs.
In eight seasons of varsity play, Clear Springs has a regular season record of 238-49, which equates to a .829 winning percentage. Crawford has led the Chargers to a 22-8 playoff record, which includes at least one playoff victory every year they have been eligible.
The highlight came in 2012-13 when Clear Springs went 38-3 and won the Region 3-5A championship.
The Chargers are coming off their fifth 30-win season in the last six years. They reached the regional semifinals despite relying on mostly sophomores and juniors. Five of the top six scorers are eligible to return, including stars Sierra Cheatham, Tasharian Robinson and Dymond Gladney.
Clear Springs would be on the short list to win the 2017 Region 3-6A title anyway, but next season it will be led by a coach who has national team experience.
“I get a chance to meet all these coaches from across the country and learn from all of them as well as learn from the caliber of kids who will be there,” Crawford said. “I hope to grow a little bit more in terms of seeing how things are done at that level. I am always looking for something to bring back and add to what I am doing now.”