Harrell finds hoops

I had a very nice interview with former El Dorado standout Ashley Harrell last week. Harrell signed with Southern Mississippi out of high school, played a year there, earning All-Conference and Defensive Player of the Year honors before transferring.
Harrell made her way to Weatherford JC and now she's at Oklahoma Baptist University, an NAIA school in Shawnee, Okla.
I hadn't talked to her in awhile and, without question, she's matured a lot over the past few years.
Ashley has the unusual knowledge of playing the game of basketball at pretty much every level. She started out in the Boys & Girls Club, played for a small local AAU team (Roses), went to a bigger state-wide AAU team (Mavericks). She played at Class AA Harmony Grove before going to Class 6A El Dorado.
She went Division I to Junior College to NAIA.
Through all those stops, playing levels and coaches, Harrell said they all impacted her life.
“I think I would take it all the way back to playing AAU ball. From my daddy to everybody I’ve played for, I have to give my props and respect for the person I’ve become because of them if it was good or bad," she said.
“From Coach Harris saying not to bounce passes from my daddy saying ‘you need to take over’ from Coach Ammons saying to shoot the ball to Coach Slatton. Every coach I’ve played for has uplifted me in some way. It might have been in a negative way but when I think about it now, I know they weren’t doing nothing but trying to help me. I have much respect and gratitude for all the coaches I’ve come across.”
Her Oklahoma Baptist team this season is ranked among the nation's best. Despite all the teams, Harrell still boasts, “I’ve never been on a losing team, ever - ever, ever, ever.”
Ashley said she experienced burn out at El Dorado and it really set in as a freshman at Southern Miss. She said she'd actually given up the game and was planning on quitting after getting her degree at Weatherford. Oklahoma Baptist asked her to come for a visit and to try out. It was there where she re-discovered her passion for hoops.
I asked her if she had any advice to kids on how to avoid burn out.
“My advice wouldn’t be toward the kids. It would be toward the parents not to push," she said. "If your child wants to play basketball, let them play. But, if they get burned out, let ‘em stop. Don’t push them to do things they don’t want to do. I understand a little push, ‘let’s go out there and work on a shot’ or something like that. But, don’t pressure them and don’t try to live your dream through your child. Let them find themselves and let them find their own way.
"Like me, at one time I didn’t think I wanted to play basketball. But, a year or so later, me and basketball found each other again. If it’s meant for that person, they’ll find their way back to each other.”