{"id":54635,"date":"2025-11-20T21:00:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T21:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/54635\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T21:00:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T21:00:07","slug":"olympic-basketball-coach-uplifts-st-pete-elementary-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/54635\/","title":{"rendered":"Olympic basketball coach uplifts St. Pete elementary school"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kara Lawson is one of the most decorated players and coaches in the history of women\u2019s basketball. She has also impacted the lives of students at an elementary school in St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n

Lawson, head coach of the Duke University<\/a> Blue Devils and the U.S. Women\u2019s National Team, took time out of her hectic schedule Thursday to visit New Heights Elementary School. Her viral \u201cHandle Hard Better\u201d message has become a mantra for students and faculty, thanks to Principal Chris Boulanger.<\/p>\n

New Heights<\/a> was a \u201cD\u201d school determined to move up in the statewide rankings when Boulanger began showing students Lawson\u2019s ode to hard work and perseverance. The school received an \u201cA\u201d grade in 2024, and Lawson said Boulanger\u2019s subsequent email \u201cresonated with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s a school that figured out a recipe \u2013 that had incredible amounts of success over and over and over,\u201d Lawson said. \u201cThat deserves to be recognized. That deserves to be applauded, and I have to come down here and learn and see what they\u2019re doing. Because clearly, they\u2019re connecting with their students, and clearly it\u2019s making a difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt keeps me inspired to do the same thing with my players.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Students clamored for Kara Lawson\u2019s autograph. Many passed her notes.<\/p>\n

Duke, which sits among the upper echelon of college basketball, has a Thursday evening game against the University of South Florida. Lawson and her contingent made the trip across the bay and stayed well after her scheduled departure.<\/p>\n

Students encircled the school\u2019s courtyard to see and hear Lawson. Many waved signs and brought notes. She then fielded questions from the New Heights press club.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day is not going to be easy for you,\u201d Lawson told them. \u201cBut you are capable of handling hard, and you are capable of being tough enough to do great things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawson<\/a> was the fifth overall pick in the 2003 WNBA draft. She won a championship two years later.<\/p>\n

In the 2008 Summer Olympics, Lawson led the U.S. Women\u2019s National team in scoring (15 points) during their gold medal-winning game against Australia. She retired from the WNBA in 2015 and became a sports broadcaster.<\/p>\n

Lawson, 44, launched her coaching career in 2019 as an assistant with the NBA\u2019s Boston Celtics. She picked up another gold medal in 2020 as head coach of the three-on-three women\u2019s national team.<\/p>\n

Duke hired Lawson, its first female head coach, to lead the Blue Devils that same year. In September, USA Basketball announced<\/a> she would coach the women\u2019s national team in the 2026 FIBA World Cup and at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is absolutely surreal to have Coach Lawson spend a morning here at New Heights Elementary School in St. Petersburg, Florida,\u201d Boulanger said Thursday. \u201cTo see her take time out of her schedule on a game day to connect with my kids, who have valued and used her message for years now \u2013 for them to see her in real life, that is a gift that\u2019s going to continue to give for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

The feeling was mutual. Lawson said she became emotional while discussing her impact on students \u201cbecause I care about this stuff.\u201d She expressed appreciation for the \u201cgenuine, authentic joy that you could see in their faces.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

New Heights Elementary, now an \u201cA\u201d school, is at 3901 37th St. N.<\/p>\n

Boulanger sent Lawson an email in the fall of 2024. He noted that the area was \u201chit with two devastating, back-to-back hurricanes,\u201d and her message helped students and staff refocus.<\/p>\n

Boulanger explained that all students watched \u201cHandle Hard Better\u201d before every state testing session. \u201cThey locked in and have now got us to what looks like will be the FIRST time New Heights will be an \u2018A\u2019 rated school,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it would be cool if she just wrote us a note and said, \u2018Hey, good work,\u2019\u201d Boulanger said Thursday.<\/p>\n

Lawson said the letter \u201ckind of blew me away.\u201d She repeatedly stressed the importance of human connection. \u201cTo be visibly supportive, I think, is what we should do for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawson reflected on how \u201cHandle Hard Better,\u201d a two-minute, 49-second video clip released in 2022, has transcended sports. \u201cIt was just a regular talk to my players,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a summer workout with like nine players in the gym,\u201d Lawson continued. \u201cAnd now I\u2019m in St. Petersburg at a school. That\u2019s pretty crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kara Lawson (left, foreground), has won 13 career gold medals with USA Basketball as a player and coach.<\/p>\n

Students walked up to Lawson and shared what the video meant to them and how it helped them persevere. She was also quick to credit the school for its newfound success.<\/p>\n

Lawson also tried to put herself in their shoes. \u201cIf my principal or teachers showed me a video of someone a lot, a lot, a lot, and then that person showed up to my school, I would be so pumped,\u201d she admitted.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, to be on the other end of that, to create, hopefully, a memory for them, was really satisfying,\u201d Lawson said. \u201cIf you want to get the best out of people, then you have to be able to create a connection with them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kara Lawson is one of the most decorated players and coaches in the history of women\u2019s basketball. She…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-54635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}