Congratulations to NOT JUST the Madison High School Girls

The James Madison High School girls just won their third straight VA State Championship. Wow, it’s hard to even wrap your brain around how they pulled that off. We want to give them the biggest congratulations possible especially considering 10 of the players on the team are Training with Evolution. We are so proud of them and this mind-blowing accomplishment.

I actually don’t want to talk all about the Madison girls though. There’s someone behind the scenes that needs to get some credit here. Evolution’s own Doug Howard started Training this group 5 and even 6 years ago. Being a basketball trainer is kind of a weird lonely thing in a sense. To do it right it takes humbleness to put in YEARS of effort to a group of players like this and then sit in the stands and watch them cut down the nets allowing them to get all the glory. Trainers don’t get trophies, but if there was a National Championship trophy for trainers, Doug should have it hoisted over his head today.

Doug brought this group together and kept them a cohesive unit outside of their High School team practices, games, into the off-season, on random days off, anytime they could get in extra work. The girls put in the consistent effort, but Doug created an environment where they wanted to be there Training as much as possible TOGETHER. I’ve seen him pour his heart and soul into this crew and the payoff has been epic. Not only was Doug there for them at the Training sessions but he made the time and effort to be at as many of the Madison games as possible. The relationships that are built throughout this process is what a REAL basketball trainer is supposed to be. Doug didn’t just run them through drills, he has been their mentor throughout this amazing run which is something each of these young ladies is lucky to have.

Speaking of lucky to have… Evolution is lucky to have someone of the high character of Doug Howard to be a mentor to so many players across the area. When I brought Doug in 7 years ago to work with Evolution I was the main trainer with the reputation for developing players and playing that role of the mentor. As Evolution grew I had to trust someone to take over that lead role and make an impact on kids the way I had as I started this business. Not to say his job is done but I think his success with the Madison girls over the years helping them achieve an almost unthinkable goal has proven that he was up for that task.