by By Dan Ninham
High potential athletes find time to get better. If they don’t have the time with coaches and trainers, they will make the time to work on their own to improve their skill sets.
Coral Old Bull, 14, is from Pryor, MT. “I am Apsaalooké (Crow),” said Coral. “My clan is Big Lodge, and I’m a child of Piegan.” Coral’s parents are the late Elvis Old Bull and Quindy Whiteman.
“My Indian name is isuutabaako and it translates to weasel up high or high weasel,” said Coral.
“I compete for Unity basketball of WA and plan on attending Billings Central Catholic HS in the fall,” said Coral. “I am in the 8th grade.”
Shawn DeJoseph is continuing to build athletes by building a national native basketball program called Unity Basketball. He talked about one of his many future stars: “Coral is an old school type of player with some unique play with amazing craft. With a long frame and great IQ she seems to have no problem playing at the highest level against top level competition. Every bit of an asset to any basketball team. Coral will continue to make her name known as she progresses to a collegiate scholarship to play basketball. I’m a proud coach to say the least.”
“I’ve succeeded at cross country and volleyball in early years,” said Coral. “This past fall I decided to try out for volleyball instead of cross country and plan on doing so throughout high school.”
“Basketball is the sport I play at competition level and I started in head start,” said Coral. “With each year passing, I’ve gotten more serious with the sport as my love continued to grow. I’ve gone to many tournaments through the years sometimes going home with first place trophies, MVP’s, all stars and some with nothing.”
“I have gone home with lessons that have throughout the years prepared me for high school,” added Coral.
“On my reservation Chief Plenty Coup was the last reigning chief of the Crow,” said Coral. “A lot of the Crow values he had set and we still practice them today. One of the things he said that I’ve taken to heart is, ‘Education is your greatest weapon. With education you are the white man’s equal, without education you are his victim and so shall remain all your lives. Study, learn, and help one another always. Remember there is only poverty and misery in idleness and dreams but in work there is self-respect and independence.’ He did great by bringing my people into the modern days. All that I’m allowed to do would not have happened if it hadn’t been for him.”
“He fought for my people and our futures, as a tribe and as individuals. A lot of what Chief Plenty Coups did represents me as a student, it inspires me to get a good education so I can become something, someone someday,” added Coral.
“Basketball is just one of the many things that will get me there,” said Coral.
“During this pandemic time I get into all the tournaments that I can,” said Coral. “I run to stay in shape, I do dribbling drills and quick ladder to improve my ball handling and quickness. Not a lot of gyms are available to me, so I do what I can with the concrete court in town. I go to open gyms for Central Catholic HS.”
“I feel obligated to carry on my dad Elvis Old Bull’s legacy,” said Coral. “I feel a lot of pressure by it.”
Sami Walking Bear is extended family the Indian way with Coral and her family. “We’re related distantly, but that doesn’t mean much to us,” said Sami. “My grandmother and her great grandmother were very close and that’s a relationship I respect and carry on still as family.”
“I think she’s making her own path just fine,” said Sami Walking Bear. “She has a lot of support from her mom and her mom’s siblings. She plays a little like both her parents I think, so her own legacy is what I’m sure her dad would be proud of.”
Elvis Old Bull graduated from Lodge Grass HS in MT in 1990. He was the elite of the elite in basketball and cross country. He was a three-time State Class B MVP and member of the Montana State championship teams for 1988-90. Elvis was the 1990 Gatorade Player of the Year, 1990 McDonald All American, the 1990 Sports Illustrated Top 50 Sports Heroes, and inductee into the 2008 Montana Indian Hall of Fame.
Elvis Old Bull died in a one-vehicle accident on September 30, 2004 at the age of 42.
“My dad, Elvis, was scouted by Bobby Knight,” said Coral.
Buddy Windy Boy talked about his friend Elvis Old Bull and Elvis’ daughter Coral: “Knowing how much Elvis loved her in the times we spoke about our children, he was very protective and supportive of anything she did. Anything she was going to do, he was going to love her regardless and unconditionally. The pressure she feels, she should only carry and promote the love and passion Elvis had for this game. Her dad’s story, already written. Up to her to write her own legacy.”
“I have had the pleasure of watching Coral play since kindergarten,” said Buddy Windy Boy. “I have had the pleasure to coach Coral on a few different levels and most recently with UNITY Girls AAU 16U and 14U.”
“Coral has a strong natural competitive instinct for basketball, she is highly coachable and very determined to improve every aspect of her game,” said Buddy. “Coral is has a basketball IQ that has grown beyond her age. Her ability to defend inside and to defend with intensity is desirable for any team she plays on, this sets her apart from other players her age.”
“Coral has shown offensive creativity and craftiness that I can definitely say comes naturally from her father, the late Elvis Old Bull,” added Buddy.
“Competitiveness on both ends of the court has proven a valuable trait for this young player,” said Buddy.
“I started in soccer when I was really young and that’s one of the things my dad got me into, to get me coordinated,” said Coral. “I started doing volleyball as well to help with my timing for defense. A lot of the sports I’ve played were to benefit my game as a basketball player. As I’ve seen more competition I went to skills academies. Usually when I have time or don’t have homework I go to the courts. I play as much as I can, and I work hard on off days and join open gyms so I can work to get on varsity. I work on my footwork mostly in my free time, and free throws.”
Coral also has the highly talented basketball genes on her mom’s side.
Quindy Whiteman played for Plenty Coups HS (MT). Her team made it to divisional her freshman year. She transferred to Billings Central HS and in her junior year the team placed third in the state tournament. She transferred back to Plenty Coups HS and made the All-state Team her senior year. She led the team in points and rebounds. After high school she travelled the national tourney circuit.
“I ended up at Haskell Indian Nations University where we went to the NJCAA nationals and placed third in 1999,” said Quindy.
“Coral has come a long way since she’s started playing basketball,” said mom Quindy Whiteman. “She was not so graceful when she was a small child. She would just fall over while playing or just be standing there and fall. My mother told me not to scold her or embarrass her for it. I got her into soccer to see if it would help her, and it did. Plus I thought she could use it for defense towards basketball.”
“Soccer was her favorite sport, it still may be. Her dad and I had to beg her to play basketball. We bribed her one day and told her ‘if you want us to pay for you to play soccer, you’re going to have to play basketball too.’ She didn’t want to but she did because of her love for soccer. I remember her dad saying ‘please baby, I know I told you that I could care less if you played basketball, but for me could you just play, please? You’re my last hope of being as good as me or better, you just have to, it’s in your blood!’,” added Quindy.
“She first played in our annual head start basketball tournament at three years old,” said Quindy.”She then went onto the Y league then onto playing in little tournaments.”
“Coral takes in everything and learns from her mistakes,” said Quindy. “I once told her I had a bad attitude, I don’t want you to be like that, I want you to be better than me, I thought I knew it all and didn’t listen and I thought I didn’t need improvement.”
“Be a coachable player, listen to your coach and do what they ask of you I would tell her,” said Quindy. “Even if it’s someone from the stands giving advice, have respect to listen and take it in, learn from it all. Control your body language, your facial expressions.”
“We’ve become calm in talking about ball and where she can improve,” said Quindy. “It has been a long process for us to come to that. We talk about what to do the next time she gets burned on defense and how to defend the paint next time. I’ll tie in where her dad has shared with her, such as being able to use both her hands, able to finish with her left if need be. He would always said you’re not the best player, there is always going to be someone better than you.”
“I once told her I am never going to tell her she’s good,” said Quindy. “I am always going to tell her where she can do better! She was in tears when we had this conversation. She had just lost in a championship game and she had fouled when she shouldn’t have, and they lost by two points. I am glad she didn’t quit after that. I told her that game was on you, learn from it and do better next time! I was so hard on her she said she just won’t play anymore. I said go ahead, I’ll save money and time. But here we are still at it.”
“Right now I want her to focus on her defensive and offensive rebounds,” said Quindy. “I am always explaining to her over and over to rebound and there won’t be unnecessary fouls. First thing is to rebound, then take care of it, create something. I’ll show her examples as we watch games what she needs to do and learn by being a good rebounder. She listens because I’ll see it next time she plays. I’ll have to yell at her all the time to REBOUND or if I’m not there I’ll tell a parent go tell her I said to rebound, because I am always watching the live feed when I can’t be there.”
“She’ll call me and we’ll talk about her games. I’ll be saying do this or next time you’ll have to do this. Another thing I try and teach is to be a player and if fouled finish it at the line, free throws and rebounds,” added Quindy.
“All the sports she has played, she’s done good in,” said Quindy. “She can run cross country, she can run the mile in track, she can play volleyball, we introduced a little softball to her, but she doesn’t like it. With these sports she can use to get into shape for basketball or timing her jump, for blocking.”
“Coral doesn’t have to be asked to go do the extra,” said Quindy. “If she feels she’s out of shape she’ll go run, she’s trying to get faster feet so she’ll go outside and work on her footwork with the equipment her brother got her for Christmas. She’ll dribble, she’s goes to the courts plays when she can if she doesn’t have homework.”
“She’ll ask questions for example, ‘they had me at front on the press, I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do.’ So we explained what we could to her. She feeds her brain by asking questions, and watching clips on YouTube or a game on tv. I told her she should play chess to help her thinking process, you know for basketball. She’s still thinking about taking that on. She has been a part of a couple of skills/training for basketball like crafted and signature hoops.
“I am not the only one she has raising her hence the saying ‘it takes a village to raise a child’. She has a lot of family backing her up with her uncle helping pay for her fees to be in Unity, and her aunt taking her to tournaments with ‘lil ndn gurlz’ when she has a free weekend. She started out with me putting a team together, until she joined her team KWA and aged out of that. She would continue to play with them if girls were allowed. She played with her big sister on her high school travel team as a sixth grader with their aunt coaching them.”
“Currently now she plays on two teams, locally ‘Lil Ndn Gurlz’ and ‘Lady Unity’ as her AAU travel team,” added Quindy.
“What I enjoy most about watching her play is when she plays up, how much she changes her game and adjusts and is able to be just that above average player,” said Quindy.
“She works hard to keep her grades up and does her best to be a good student athlete,” said Quindy. “Right now her concentration is school and graduating eighth grade. So basketball is on hold until June 1st. School will always come first, and I always expect her to be the best student she can and get good grades.”
“If tomorrow she decides she is done with this and wants to concentrate on volleyball well then I would do the same and go all out for her to be the best she can be at that sport, as I did for her brother as he chose football and I’ll do it for her,” said Quindy. “She has that choice and I will support her however I can, to get her to that next level. Being my daughter or her father’s daughter probably is not easy but she handles it well, asks for help if she needs to. She does what she can to better her game with her very busy schedule. I am so proud of her. Still a lot to work on, she’ll get there with time and effort.”
“Potential for this young baller is bright in my opinion, but it is unwritten,” said Buddy. “The ball is in her court to write the rest of her story.”
Photo Credit: Ryan Coody/NDNSPORTS
