Gabby Garner. When I looked over my contact sheet for my April assignments, that particular name didn’t ring any bells. I did notice that she played basketball, softball, and golf at Echols Middle. No surprise there, I thought. Echols Middle is a small school and everybody plays everything down there. I texted the number I was given and set up the interview. When we spoke, I asked Garner which sport of the three was her favorite. “Basketball,” she replied immediately. “My dad is a former coach and I’ve been playing since I could walk.”
Then it hit me. Garner. Daughter of a basketball coach. All I could do was laugh. In February 2009, when Gabby was just eight years old, I had interviewed her father, Shan Garner, for a Coach’s Corner spotlight. He was coaching the women’s basketball team at Lowndes High back then. A year later, I had interviewed her uncle, Jared Garner, who at the time was coaching basketball in Lanier County. This would be a first for me – interviewing the third member of the same family for a feature.
Gabby Garner and the rest of her family live in Dasher. She attends Echols Middle because her mother, Maria, teaches Spanish in Echols County. This is the first year both of them have been in the Echols system. Last season, the Echols Middle basketball team won just two games. This year, with Garner running the point, Echols went 13-3 and made the playoffs. They finished second in the regular season and third in the postseason tournament. “I don’t know if I made an 11 game difference,” she says, “but I’d like to think I helped at least a little.”
She did more than help just a little. Garner is a true student of the game who has been learning basketball since she was born. She was learning the game when she didn’t even know it. “Gabby grew up watching me review film and seeing me scream at the television. She has been submerged in hoops her whole life,” says her father.
The result is that Garner has a level of basketball knowledge that surpasses her athletic ability. And that gives her an advantage over bigger, stronger, and more talented players. However, don’t let the above statement mislead you – it’s not that Garner is a bad athlete. She is an above average basketball player who is working hard every day to get even better. At 5’3”, 100 pounds, she just isn’t going to overpower very many players. She makes up for it by seeing the floor well and anticipating what will happen next. She knows how to read other players and she often puts herself in the right place at the right time on the court. Garner also possesses an intense will to win. She is a very unselfish player who will do whatever it takes to win a game. This season, she blocked six shots in one game. “That was unusual for her. But that’s what her team needed her to do that game in order to win so that’s what she did,” says Shan Garner. While not a prolific scorer, if that’s what she needs to do, she will do it. For example, early in the season against Berrien, she hit the free throws that put Echols up by two. The difference held and Echols won the game. “She just plays basketball the right way and knows how to make a big impact on the game,” says her father.
The next question for Gabby Garner is where she will attend high school. All told, she has attended eight schools in eight years; each of her three years in middle school have been spent at a different school. Will she remain at Echols next year or will she play basketball next year for Lowndes? “I’m not sure,” she says. “I love Echols County. It’s a small school and very much like a family. But Lowndes High is Lowndes High. There is a lot to do there. There is more to Lowndes than just basketball. I could do well at Echols but I also love Lowndes.”
Gabby Garner also plays golf and softball at Echols. She says golf is more of a diversion, something to keep her busy during the spring. Softball, however, is a sport that she takes a little more seriously. She has played travel ball for several years but stopped recently so she could focus more on basketball. But she plans to keep playing softball throughout high school. “It doesn’t matter where I attend high school – I will play softball at either Echols or Lowndes,” she says.
Favorites:
• Subject: Social Studies
• Least favorite: Math
• Last book: Finale by Becca Fitzpatrick
• Singer/musician: Jason Aldean and Taylor Swift
• Movie: A League of Their Own
• Team: North Carolina Tar Heels
• Pepsi or Coke? Coke
• Dogs or cats? Dogs. “I have a dog, a lab named Sadie.”
• Superpower: Mind reading
Rising Star/South Georgia/April 2014
Gabby Garner
Echols County Middle School
Statenville, Georgia
Robert Preston Jr.
