Joyce Walker: From Globetrotters To Rainier Beach -- Joyce Walker May Be A Rookie Coach, But She Brings To Rainier Beach A Bigger-Than- Life Experience That Can't Be Reduced To Fit On Any Resume.

Joyce Walker is no run-of-the-mill, rookie high-school basketball coach.

As a player, she was a bona fide local legend.

Still, she's been a little nervous about taking the helm as the coach of the Rainier Beach High School girls basketball team. Teams around the state began practicing yesterday.

"I'm excited and I've got a little fear," said Walker, 32. "There is a lot of pressure at Rainier Beach. People want to win."

And none more than Walker, who earned Parade Magazine All-America honors while leading Garfield to the 1980 AAA state title and was a three-time all-America at Louisiana State University. She also played for a women's pro team in Italy and was the second woman to play for the Harlem Globetrotters.

So, what kind of coach will Walker be?

She says, a demanding one. Someone who will insist her players give their all in the classroom as well as on the court because she knows first-hand the pitfalls of placing too much emphasis on athletic success alone.

Although they were trying to help, Walker said some of her teachers at Garfield and LSU allowed her to be a lazy, underachieving student. She didn't realize the importance of what she missed until her playing career was derailed by drug abuse.

"There is so much pressure to have a winning program, even teachers can get caught up in it," said Walker, who has become a substance-abuse counselor since winning her own battle with addiction nearly five years ago.

"I was always protected by people," Walker said. "They let me get away with so much. Too much. When I was younger, I was always a taker. Counseling and coaching are ways for me to give something to other people and I love it.

She's a little old-fashioned, believing players get more benefits - better grades, enhanced self-esteem, improved self-discipline - when they are forced to toe the line.

Firm emphasis on study

"My kids won't get off the hook," Walker said. "There are no free shortcuts. There's always a payoff when you get something easy because you aren't doing all you can to reach your potential.

"I found out in some classes the rules didn't apply to me. I could get away with things. Then I had other teachers who treated me like I was any other student and made me work hard. Those are the ones you end up respecting the most."

While most coaches say they want their players to be good students, Walker has already taken steps that will give her the chance to do something more than talk. RB's varsity girls players will spend the final period of each school day with Walker in a study hall before going to practice.

"We're going to use a classroom right next to the gym and attendance will be mandatory," Walker said.

Walker said today's high-school players are different than when she was a teenager - they are more independent and worldly, but some traditional coaching techniques are still effective, like control of playing time.

"I know I never got huffy with a coach because I didn't want to jeopardize my playing time," Walker said. "In all the time I played, I never heard a player disrespect a coach, at least not to the coach's face."

Undefeated as a Metro coach

Still, she said coaches can't merely give orders anymore. They have to tell the players why things have to be done certain ways and they have to demonstrate their concern for the players as people.

"The best way I know to get respect is to give it," Walker said.

Walker spent the past two seasons working as an assistant coach at Ballard and Garfield. Last season, she guided the Garfield junior varsity to an unbeaten record against Metro League rivals.

She said her work with recovering addicts requires a lot of people skills that dovetail nicely with coaching. She believes she's well-prepared for anything from blind officials to unruly players to demanding parents.

"In the work I do, I get challenged all the time," Walker said. "It wouldn't be anything new."

Even though she's young enough to set her sights on a college or professional coaching job, Walker said her dream gig would combine coaching and counseling skills.

"Someday, I'd love to go in professional locker rooms and help those athletes deal with addiction issues," Walker said. "I know what's going on in there."

Commitment weathered test

Compared to her struggle to beat cocaine and alcohol abuse, coaching should be a breeze, even at Rainier Beach, where fans will inevitably compare her squads to the ones that were perennial state-title contenders in the mid- to late-1980s.

She thinks she's already won the hardest battle of her life: returning to Seattle to fight her addiction. She felt she had let people down.

"I left here a celebrated athlete, I came back an addict," she said.

Walker still loves playing. She regularly participates in pick-up games at area gyms, and she competed on a team representing Seattle in the Hoop-It-Up World Finals, a three-on-three tournament in Dallas Oct. 29-30. Her team finished second.

She has no intention of using the Hoop-It-Up tournament as a stepping stone to a return to professional ball.

"The Hoop-It-Up tournament was my way of saying goodbye to playing," Walker said. "Mostly, I was just trying to get back in shape. My pro career is over, but I still love to compete. Throughout my life, succeeding in competition gave me the courage to try new things when I've been scared."

But letting go of her identity as a player was tough. She experienced a deep sense of loss when she was forced to choose between her playing career and her sobriety. She said the pain lasted a couple of years.

"I used to have a constant ache in my heart because I missed it so much," Walker said. "But I knew sobriety had to be first in my life, and I wanted to be sober more than anything."

Frank Ahern, who has coached a ton of top-flight athletes in 45 years of service at Seattle area high schools, including Walker at Garfield, said he never coached anyone who could match Walker's personality and dedication.

"Of all the athletes I've been around, no one had a better attitude," Ahern said.

"At Garfield, she never missed a practice and never failed to go all-out during any drill. I think she'll do great (as a coach). She's so positive and she's very good at communicating with kids."

Rainier Beach revival predicted

During her season with the Garfield junior varsity, Bulldog head coach Ron Davis was impressed by Walker's focus on the present.

He said she only talked about her accomplishments when asked. She concentrated on helping her kids become better students and players.

"We hated to lose her," Davis said. "Rainier Beach has been down for a couple of years. If there is someone who can bring them back, it's Joyce. I just hope it doesn't happen too quickly because they're in our league."