Wednesday, December 6, 2017

ALL-MET ELITE EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH VIRGINIA TECH ASSISTANT COACH CHRISTIAN WEBSTER

ALL-MET ELITE
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
WITH
VIRGINIA TECH
MEN'S BASKETBALL
 ASSISTANT COACH
 CHRISTIAN WEBSTER
 
LANDON HS.
BETHESDA MD.
 
1.You are originally from the Washington DC area can you describe your experience growing up in the DC area, what schools did you attend & what AAU, rec teams or Boys & girls club teams did you play for? My entire family is from the DC area. My dad played at Coolidge HS and George Washington, my uncle Bobby Winston played at Georgetown and my Great Uncle Aaron “Cliff” Webster played at Cardoza HS and has been the Director of Kingman Boys and Girls Club on 13th street for over 40 years. So, having that kind of family history… I was always around basketball since I was born. I grew up a block away from Kingman Boys and Girls Club on 13th and Q Street and played for Kingman when I was younger. I ended up going to Alice Deal Junior High for middle school and then went to Landon School in Bethesda, MD for high school. I played for the DC Assault travel team coming out of high school.
 
2.You attended, graduated & also played for Harvard can you describe your overall Harvard/Ivy league experience? Harvard was an amazing experience! Just being around and developing relationships with some of the best and brightest people in the world is something I will treasure forever. One of the main reasons I went to Harvard was to play for DC legend, Tommy Amaker. To be able to make history and win the first Ivy League championship in Harvard basketball history is something that Coach Amaker talked about during the recruiting process and to have it come to life is something that I will never forget. I left Harvard with 5 Ivy League championships as a player and as a coach… That’s pretty crazy! The entire experience at Harvard was/is life changing for sure.
 
3. After graduating from Harvard what went into your decision to become a college basketball coach instead of pursuing a non-sports related career? Well, honestly I never thought I would be a coach. Never. It’s amazing what some people see in you before you ever see it in yourself. Coach Amaker asked me to come back and try out the coaching thing and he said he thought I could be pretty good at it. So, instead of trying to play overseas I decided to heed his advice and I packed my bags and came right back to Cambridge after graduation; and it was one of the best decisions I ever made!
 
4. You are currently an assistant coach at VA. Tech what are some of your most important responsibilities in that role? Definitely recruiting… Being from the DC area definitely helps a lot because VA.Tech is so close to home. But other than that, player development, scouting, making sure the players are doing right both on and off the court - things of that nature.
 
5. You are the youngest assistant coach in the ACC where do you see yourself in 5-10 years what are your career goals? I definitely see myself having my own program and being a head coach. I have been fortunate to be around some amazing head coaches in my young career like Coach Amaker and Coach Buzz Williams so just taking everything that I have learned from them and trying to apply it to my own program one day!
 
 
6. What is the most rewarding part of your current position? Definitely being able to use my playing experience to relate and motivate the guys that I’m coaching now. I wasn’t good enough to play in the ACC but to be a part of this amazing league with all the tradition and great coaches and players… It’s really a dream come true.
 
7. Can you describe your personal approach to recruiting in the ACC? Well for us we do things a little bit differently. We try to find guys that really fit our culture. Coach Buzz calls them “OKG’s” (Our Kinda Guys). And we look for guys that are unselfish, high character, talented, can play a lot of different positions on the floor and if you know anything about Coach Buzz... We have to have guys that bring an edge/toughness. We aren’t going to be able to beat the Dukes and Carolinas of the world if our guys don’t have those qualities.

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