Joie Read named TGCAAll-Star
Dalhart High seniorJoie Read received anumber of accoladesafter the basketballseason ended duringher junior year a fewmonths ago. She wasnamed District 1-3ACo-Offensive Playerof the Year, and wasnamed to the Class 3ARegion I All-Regionteam by the Texas As-sociation of BasketballCoaches.
Most importantly,she was named All-State by the TexasGirls Coaches Asso-ciation (TGCA), andwill also be the firstDalhart player to playin the TGCA Class 1A-4A All-Star basketballgame as she competesfor the red team tomor-row night, Friday July17 at Arlington High School. Read is oneof only 24 incomingseniors from across thestate who attend Class1A-4A schools to bechosen for the game,with 12 on the red teamand 12 on the blueteam.
Read passed 1,000points early duringher junior season, andaveraged 18 points pergame. She also aver-aged seven reboundsper game, and bothfour assists and foursteals per game. Readhad some truly spec-tacular assists duringthe season to go alongwith some amazingscoring plays.
Read said that she al-ways had being namedAll-State as a goal. “Itis a great feeling toaccomplish one of thegoals I have had since Iwas a little girl,” Readsaid.
Being named to theAll-Star team wasn’treally expected. “Itwas a big surprise tobe named to the TGCAAll-Star team,” Readsaid. “It is such anhonor to be chosen foran All-Star game andto be able to representDalhart.” She also hasa family connection tothe game, along withother connections. “Iam so excited,” Readsaid. “After I got thenomination, I foundout my aunt playedon the same team 30years ago, so that madeit even more special. Iam excited about play-ing. I have friends andAAU teammates thatI am playing with andagainst, so it will befun.”
Read has been onvarsity, and been astarter, since her firstgame as a freshman,and Dalhart headCoach Anthony Cath-erall has had a bigimpact on her. “Cath-erall holds me to a highstandard,” Read said.“We don’t always seeeye to eye, IYKYK [textspeak for ‘if you know,you know’], but hewants me to be the bestI can be. He doesn’t letme get away with muchand always pushes meto be the best versionof myself. He has puta lot of trust in me forthe last 3 years. I havelearned so much fromhim.” She’s also hadhelp from the team’sassistant coaches andher junior high coach-es. “All of the coachesI have had in Dalharthave pushed me to bethe best player I can be.They are all my biggestsupporters and cheer-leaders.”
Read has been play-ing on various travel-ing teams during thespring and summerfor nine years now,and played at the NikeTournament of Cham-pions in Las Vegas lastweekend. “I playedfor AOH [Academy ofHoops]for 8 years andhave played for Hoop10 this year,” Read said.“I believe that it helpedme grow a love for bas-ketball. I have gainedconfidence and a lovefor competing throughtravel ball. I feel likeplaying in tough,competitive basketballgames against someof the best players inthe country had helpedme be ready for thosesame type of games atthe high school level.”
Playing on thosetraveling teams hashelped her not justbecome a better player,but has allowed her tomeet other great play-ers. “I have made someof my best friends onmy travel teams andlearned a lot fromthem, not only fromhow well they play thesport of basketball, butalso life lessons,” Readsaid. “We have grownup together. It is so funto follow them all dur-ing their seasons andwatch them with theirschool teams. They areall family to me.”
Read started playingat a very young age,and met three futurevarsity teammateson her first team. “Istarted playing forthe Her-ricanes withKammi [Maddox], Avi[Day], and Arianna[Chacon] when I was inthe first grade. “It wasso fun and that’s whenmy love for basketballstarted.”
Read also talkedabout the coacheson her travel teams.“I played for AustinJohnson (AOH) for 8years, and this year mycoach is Brandi Leal,”Read said. “Thosecoaches have taughtme so much aboutbasketball and made itso much fun for me. Ihave also been trainingwith Zach Barsalou forseveral years. Zach hasgiven me so much con-fidence. He is hard onme, but makes me bet-ter and does not let meget down on myself.”
Read’s Dalhart teammates have alsohelped her get to thepoint of being All-Stateand an All-Star. “Ihave learned so muchfrom all of my Dalhartteammates,” Read said.“They accepted mewhen I was a freshmanon varsity, and I wasnervous about that. Ihave become so close toall of my teammates.
“My sophomoreyear was so muchfun because we kindasurprised everyoneand made a run to theRegional Finals,” Readadded. “It was incred-ible. All of the teams Ihave been on in Dal-hart have been superclose. We do a lot to-gether and with CoachCatherall. We are trulya family. I am going tomiss Avi, Kammi, andArianna this year be-cause I have been play-ing with them since thefirst grade.”
“This year’s teamhas a lot of new faces,but they are great,”Read said. “We havealready had so muchfun together and havebecome pretty closethis summer. Kambry[Kitchens], Kaetlin[Sundvahl], Luxie[Woolley], Maggie[Hartman], Nanda[Fernanda Galbon]and I are Seniors thisyear, the only six left.We have been througha lot together. We haveplayed lots of basket-ball, had lots of fun,and have grown to-gether. I love all of myteammates.”
The Read family hasbeen there for Joiefor her entire career.“My family is superbig and super support-ive,” Read said. “Mysiblings come to asmany games as pos-sible and if they can’tthey watch it on thelive stream. We havea group chat and havea conversation afteralmost every game. Myaunts, uncles, andcousins have been sosupportive too, theyhave followed mearound in AAU foryears and have beento as many games asthey could attend too(or watched on live-stream.)
She specifically men-tioned all the sacrificesher parents had madefor her. “My mom anddad [Jennifer Readand Joey Read], whatcan I say, they havesacrificed so much forme to become a goodballplayer and reachmy goals,” Joie said.“Countless hours onthe road, or in a plane.My mom and I havetraveled to at least ninedifferent states andseen so much. I can’teven imagine all theyhave sacrificed finan-cially. They will neverknow how thankful Iam.”
After the All-Stargame, Read will beginher senior season involleyball in Augustand then basketball inNovember, and she hassome things she wantsto accomplish beforegraduating. “My goalas an individual is to bebetter than I was lastyear,” Read said. “Thatis my goal every year.My other goal is to bethe best leader I can beon a team that will beyoung.”
Read and her team-mates have mutualgoals as well. “Our goalas a team is to growand get better everygame and to surprisesome people,” she said.“We know our districtis good and returningsome good teams, butwe are going to be rightin the middle of thingsand want to bringhome a district cham-pionship. We also wantto make sure and havefun!”
Read is good enoughthat she does have col-lege coaches who areinterested in pickingher up after she gradu-ates from high school.“Yes, I have plans toplay in college,” Readsaid. “I have been tosome prospect camps,and have been in touchwith some coaches.I am excited to seewhere God wants me tobe and what the futureholds.”
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