MIDWAY, Ky. (LEX 18) — Sitting on the sideline at Kentucky Christian University men’s basketball games is nine-year-old Sadie Maynard. She’s on the bench where she's hard at work, wearing black and red with the Knights logo.
“I'm a manager,” Sadie said. “I'll give (the players) water and high five their hands when they’re out.”
Head coach Charlie Pack says Sadie isn’t shy about her role.
“She just brings a certain amount of determination and she will let them know when they're playing bad as well,” he said with a smile.
Sadie’s dad Todd is an assistant coach on staff at Kentucky Christian. A KCU alum who once played basketball for the school, Todd accepted an opportunity to be the dean of the school of business and leadership while also working as the assistant men’s basketball coach. The coaching field is one familiar for the Maynards.
“I grew up watching my dad a lot,” Sadie said. “It really made me like love wanting to do that. Like I wanted to be on the court most of the time he was on the court, but sometimes I couldn’t.”
Sadie is the youngest of three girls, and she took an early liking to basketball.
“My dad put a little mini basketball in my hand when I was a baby,” she said.
“Ever since she was little she'd walk around and dribble,” Todd said. “It was one of those things where she was like, ‘I'd like to sit with you over there’ and we let her do it.”
“I said, ‘Hey, you can fill up the water and you got to work hard and it's an important position.’ That's one thing about her that you'll notice if you look at what she does during the games. She feels like it's valuable and she does and she takes it serious.”
That’s how Sadie’s work as manager began. Her hard work is one of the reasons why Coach Pack wanted to retain Sadie as a manager when he brought Todd onto his staff.
“When I decided to come up and Coach Pack gave me the opportunity to come up and be an assistant it was one of those things that, we're a basketball family and she's always been around,” Todd said. “I told her, I said, ‘hey I’ve got to feel things out and see how things are,’ but Coach Pack's been awesome. He's given us the opportunity.”
“Our whole team and the approach is kind of be like family,” Pack added. “They've embraced her, she's embraced them, and you know she's just part of our family now.”
Sadie works out with the team in practice, and she encourages players from the sidelines during games. What does she say to help lift up the guys?
“Keep your head up and play your game,” Sadie said. “Do what you know you can do.”
She’s also a pretty good basketball player herself, playing for her age group in the West Virginia Thunder.
“Last summer in Knoxville, Tennessee, they won a national championship,” Todd shared. “She's been around enough ball to understand that it's serious and you got to take it serious and consistently you have to work.”
From playing to managing, Sadie has a long future in basketball. One day, the roles for Todd and Sadie just might reverse.
“Eventually one day when she’s done playing, and we told her to go as far as you can go, but whenever she becomes a head coach one day, we’ve got a handshake agreement that I will be her assistant,” shared Todd. “So whenever that happens, I'll have to help her on her bench.”
Kentucky Christian University is based out of Grayson. The Knights took on Midway University Tuesday night, where they picked up a 70-63 win.
