When Dawn Staley revealed her optimistic attitude toward life as a kid: "We felt like we had everything we needed"
Dawn Staley went through a struggling childhood before she began pursuing her dream of impacting the world of basketball. Growing up in the Raymond Rosen projects in North Philadelphia, Staley lacked opportunities and several material things. However, the South Carolina Gamecocks coach always had an optimistic attitude toward her situation.
Staley focused on the small aspects of her daily life, which helped her have a fulfilled and sheltered upbringing. She revealed her approach in an interview with "Finding Mastery," in an episode released in August 2021.
"The dynamics of living in the projects are so great because we did not know life outside of the projects," Dawn Staley said. (3:40)
"And we felt like we had everything that we needed to arm ourselves to be survivors. We were surrounded by a lot of negative, a lot of crime, but we also were protected by the people in our neighborhood that wouldn't allow us to stray off to the wrong path. And we were just a close-knit group that just really took care of each other."
Staley claimed that her living situation and her mother's guidance helped her lay a strong foundation around discipline, togetherness, mutual growth and building a strong character. She also believes that it prepared her to experience the outside world, starting from her AAU basketball days and time at the University of Virginia.
Dawn Staley wants her Gamecocks to continue playing high-standard basketball
After defeating No. 8 Duke Blue Devils and No. 9 TCU Horned Frogs, the South Carolina Gamecocks face South Florida on Sunday. Even though the Bulls are currently unranked, Dawn Staley wants her roster not to underestimate the competition.
"Some of the scores look lopsided,” Staley said on Friday. "Some of the scores were closer than the end result. For us, it's a team that poses the threat of they're always moving. They're always going to challenge you to defend every screen, a lot of action is away from basketball.
"So, we may have a tendency to not see the full court. They're going to force us to do that. Hey, they are gonna force us to do that." (1:35)
With that, Dawn Staley wants her team to keep its defensive gloves active to disrupt South Florida's flow and prevent it from taking the shots that it prefers.