Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephen and Jessica McMillan.
Hi Stephen and Jessica, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
We are the parents of 3 daughters, and at an early age, we introduced all of them to sports. Our daughter Jazzlyn took a strong liking to basketball at a very early age. Being that we both have coached basketball at the high school level. We decided to create Palmetto Pressure because we saw a void for girls’ youth basketball in Columbia and throughout South Carolina. Fueled by Jazzlyn’s passion for the game and the need for giving equal opportunities for young girls in basketball in South Carolina we started this program in the summer of 2019. We have been successfully operating Palmetto Pressure for 3 years and we have had a positive influence on over 100 young ladies in South Carolina between the age of 7- 16.
The mission at Palmetto Pressure Girls Basketball is to create a place where players have a positive atmosphere: and where young athletes who want to be better basketball players have the opportunity to get better. Palmetto Pressure is the vehicle that provides that opportunity for players to take their game to the next level. We exist to make a positive difference in the lives of our players. Our goal is to develop happy, healthy, and confident players. We strive to provide a safe, fun, and competitive experience for every player. We ultimately want our players to be able to use the skills to become collegiate basketball players, but more importantly successful productive members of society,
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
The two biggest struggles have been COVID and finding and retaining coaches.
We started 2019 and everything seemed to be moving in the right direction. Then we began our spring travel season at the beginning of March 2020. We were 2 practices in and the world shut down. We were not able to get into a gym for 3 months. COVID restrictions on gyms, the number of people in gyms, quarantines, social distancing and just navigating the new world during COVID have been tough and really hurt a lot of our young players’ development. Still, we learned how to navigate through this pandemic and we were able to have a tremendous amount of growth from the players who continue to play and train through COVID.
My second struggle has been finding and retaining reliable coaches. Our goal is to have even more teams and reach even more youth female basketball players in South Carolina, but I have had difficulties finding coaches. I have had to turn away young ladies from some of our teams because I did not have enough coaches. Even though we have had this issue we still have been able to reach over 100 young female athletes in the following counties throughout South Carolina: Richland, Lexington, Fairfield, Greenville, Charleston, Greenville, Dillion, Richmond (Georgia), and Columbia (Georgia).
Even though we have faced these difficulties, we still have found a way to be successful in just 3 years we have won over 25 tournaments including winning Nationals 4 times. US Amateur D2 National Champions (3X’s) and SABA National Champions.
We strive to teach the players in our program to live by this quote by Maya Angelou,
“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
We are both educators, I am an Assistant Principal, and Jessica is an Interventionist, We both work for Fairfield County Schools. I am a former track, basketball, and football coach. I have has been an educator for 12 years, and Jessica has been an educator for 6 years.
Working with the youth is our passion, we want to see students become successful individuals in sports, but more importantly in life. The skills that we teach in basketball are easily transferable to real-life skills. We both understand that the youth are our future, and if we want to make a better tomorrow, we must start with our youth.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
We both grew up in rural South Carolina, in the small town of Bamberg. As a child growing up in rural South Carolina, there were not many things to do, so we both gravitated towards sports. As a child, I played baseball, basketball, soccer, and football, and Jessica cheered, danced, and played softball. As I entered high school, I focused more on football, and Jessica concentrated on track and cross country. In college, I played football at Averett University, and Jessica ran cross country at Limestone College. The lessons we learned through playing sports, we want to instill those same lessons in the girls in our program.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/palmettopressuregirlsbball/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/palmettopressuregirlsbasketball/
- Twitter: @PPressureGirls
Image Credits
The photo with the eye on the top right corner was taken by DM-Visuals-NC.
All other photos belong to Stephen and Jessica McMillan.
