When she first showed up at Phoenix Christian life was simple. She was a student who played basketball.

Tara Poovey 32, now has much more on her plate. She is the coach of the Cougars varsity and middle school teams. She is also working a full-time job for the Washington Elementary School District and is a mother and a wife. 

“My poor husband during basketball season I hardly see him and my free time is learning the game what I can do better to become a better coach to my girls,” said Poovey.

Her commitment to work rewarded her with  coach of the year honors after the Cougars went 13-5 and advanced to the state tournament.

Coaching was not predestined for Poovey. 
In the streets of her natal city, Phoenix, her older brother introduced her to the game.

“I just loved it, and I could never put the ball down after that,” said Poovey.

Her passion for the game landed her at South Mountain Community College. “I had those big dreams, going to the WNBA but I knew that I was not in range. I wanted to go play overseas.” 

But on a dull day during her sophomore year her career came to a sudden end. The athletic director informed her she did not have 
enough college credit to be eligible to play. 

“I felt defeated and I was frustrated at the whole thing, so I stopped playing, and I got a job.”

Poovey has now work in the Washington district 13 years.

At 23, she returned to Phoenix Christian and 
resumed her place on the bench as an assistant alongside the coach she knew so well. Bruce Cosnier  coached her in high school.

“I played for him, I worked for him, and I coached on the same bench as him.
The relationship that we had was really strong. I learned almost everything as far as basketball from him” said Poovey.

Poovey took over the team when Cosnier left in 2015.

 “I never thought in my life that I would be back here coaching at my high school,” said Poovey. 
“Now that I started I cannot see myself stopping.”

She is motivated by her love for the game. But it's more than the game. It is about the characters for her.

“I coach to be a huge role model for those girls who come sometimes from a rough background,” said Poovey.
“My parent were divorced when I was four, and I didn’t really have that father figure .” 

Poovey fills her paternal absence in the gym. 

“I looked up the coaches here because they believe in me, I just absorbed everything, and I grew from them; my coaches were my role model here,” said Poovey.

“If I can be that role model, this mentor for them and be that one person in their life that they can count and look to that’s why I do it. To change their life because that’s what the school did to me.”

She added: “I feel like I was born to do this.''