Whether it’s grading English papers or calling plays on the basketball court, Lori McDonald is constantly working to improve her students and herself. And she’s been doing it since the school’s first day.

For almost eight years, McDonald has been the head girls basketball coach. She began the program when the school opened in 2008 with only about 400 ninth graders.

“I was hired to start the program, so we started with just freshmen, and we were the only school to start with just freshmen,” McDonald said. “We built up a program from there, so I’ve seen it from the start.”

McDonald is no stranger to the game. She played point guard during her high school career before tearing her ACL her senior year. After college, she worked at Cedar Park High School as a varsity assistant JV coach as well as a freshman coach in Allen ISD.

“The first time I ever picked up a basketball and started playing, I fell in love with the game,” McDonald said. “It wasn’t just a sport that I did in high school. Anytime I wanted to go do something for fun, it was playing basketball. Whether it was just going up to the gym and playing the local men that played pickup in the open gym or just playing in the front yard with my dad at our basketball goal.”

When she’s not on the court, she’s in her English classroom. After years of practice, she has learned the act of balancing both these activities.

“It’s always different every year,” McDonald said. “What makes it different is that you have different kids and different players. It’s always a balancing act, but it kind of changes on the tricks you have to do to balance it. I would say, definitely some of the hardest part is the end season and having to keep up with all of the grading that’s required on the English side.”

Now that they have finished their season, the coach looks over what they have done and what needs to be done for improvement for next year’s season.

“I’ve always been somebody that likes to figure things out and work puzzle type things,” McDonald said. “So it’s always taking the different combinations of players and trying to find out what the best system is in order for us to successful each season. As soon as one season ends, literally that night, after the final game, I start thinking about the following season and what we need to do and to the personnel what it’s looking like. Are we going to have to change what we did offensively to fit different players, are we going to be quick enough defensively that we could press more? So it’s just kind of figuring out how to be the most competitive with the personal and then coming up with a plan to make sure the girls are prepared and ready to go.”

The plan always includes learning more.

“I think I’m always learning,” McDonald said. “I feel like I’m pretty opened minded to other suggestions and taking ideas and plays and suggestions and kind of tweaking them and making them my own and making them fit the team. I think that’s a skill, just like any other skill, you have to practice, and until you start doing it and you start to realize what works. Sometime you learn more from mistakes than you learn from successes as a coach.”

McDonald believes being a coach is about more than calling plays on the court.

“I want my players, I really stress not being good basketball players, but also, good people,” McDonald said. “As an educator and a coach, I think that the biggest thing I want my players to walk away with Is a strong sense of self, that they have strong values and that they stand up for those values. That they make good decisions, place emphasis on education, and they know that the road’s not always easy, but through hard work and perseverance, that anything is possible.”

The varsity girls finished 5-9 in district and 17-19 overall. At Senior Night last Tuesday, McDonald said goodbye to nine seniors.

“It’s bittersweet because it makes me sad that I’m losing a group of girls,” McDonald said. “But I’m excited for what the future holds for them.”