Former Gamecock is uplifting young women through basketball
In celebration of Black History Month, Gamecock Athletes Magnifying Excellence (G.A.M.E.), which is the student-led organization for minority student-athletes, salutes Gamecock alumni who are achieving professionally outside of their sport.
Markeshia Grant is practicing what she preaches. The former South Carolina women’s basketball standout (2010-2012) was laid off from her job last year during the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic, but she quickly rallied to start her own business. As the founder of Savvy Skills Academy, Grant works as a life skills coach who aims to uplift young women through basketball.
“I think the biggest things are access, opportunity and discipline,” Grant said. “If you have those three things, then success is something in the near future for you.
“What I love about what I do is that it’s mine. It’s something I realized I was so passionate about. Just working with kids that are so inspired and seeing that I’ve come from a challenging journey to get to where I am, you can do the same thing. Helping them to understand to keep going and keep pushing, and whatever is meant to be will not pass you by.”
As a senior in 2012, Grant was a part of coach Dawn Staley’s first NCAA Tournament team that made a run to the Sweet 16. After earning her degree in psychology, Grant played professionally overseas for two years, came back to South Carolina to work as a graduate assistant and earned her master’s in educational technology in 2017. She then went to become a career development facilitator at a school in Swansea while also working as a production assistant for ESPN before she started working for a nonprofit in 2019. Then she hit a bump in the road.
“Last year, I was working for a non-profit and then COVID happened,” Grant said. “There were so many layoffs, and I was part of that group of people that got laid off. I got the news that we were being laid off on May 7, and I filed the paperwork for my business on May 12.”
The entrepreneur started Savvy Skills, which works with girls’ middle school, high school, and AAU basketball teams to teach them life skills and how to prepare for the next stages of their life, on and off the court, and to also introduce them to everything that is involved with the recruiting process and playing at a higher level. Grant also works as a basketball scout for The Blueprint Scouting in Atlanta, where she helps keep a database that is accessible to coaches.
Grant credits her mother for reminding her of how much team building and life skills work she had done as a student-athlete and in other jobs and suggested she start her own business. Although the business is new, her experience around it is not.
“I think [Coach Staley] was a big influence because you could see how well she connects with the community, connects with girls, inspires the next generation of girls and leaders, and how she inspired us as players.”
“For so long, I’ve been around life skills and team-building. I can go all the way back to being a part of (South Carolina) women’s basketball, and we used to have a team-building session every year. That was something I was committed to sharing with the next generation. I ended up becoming a career development facilitator as well as the non-profit coach, and with that we did a lot of life skills.
“Much of the inspiration is I want to give back, and I see a lot of events, but I don’t see a lot of events that provide the life skills component. Savvy Skills is essentially a life skills program that also adds the basketball component. It’s life skills, basketball, team building, career building and transformational coaching. With that you have life skills and basketball events.”
Savvy Skills hosts these events throughout the Southeast.
“The biggest thing I’ve been doing is team building with high school teams,” Grant said. “I talk to coaches and they tell me what kind of issues they’re facing among their team, what they want to work toward, and goals they want me to help their student-athletes with.
“I’ve also been doing life skills and basketball events. Essentially that is teaching student-athletes about hygiene, yoga, meditation, and the recruiting process. The basketball components involve former student-athletes. That’s the best part about it because you’re getting people who have extensive experience with the recruiting process and playing at a high level, so we’re giving them access to those resources.”
Among the former student-athletes who have helped Grant in these presentations as a life skills coach is former Gamecock Demetress Adams (2005-2009).
“She did a team-building exercise that was very hands-on and very personal,” Grant said. “I think that’s important, especially because kids have been home during this long duration (COVID-19 pandemic). Just getting to move around and interact with each other, of course with social distancing, I think those are big for the activities that we do. All of the life skills coaches are former athletes.”
Grant said Staley’s influence on her has made a big impact on her career.
“I had a great leader as a head coach in Coach (Dawn) Staley. It’s only natural for me to start with women, but eventually I want to branch out and do the boy’s side as well.
“I think [Coach Staley] was a big influence because you could see how well she connects with the community, connects with girls, inspires the next generation of girls and leaders, and how she inspired us as players. I think I just wanted to emulate that and start my own company and take those values that I learned from her and then implement that among the girls that I’m connected to.”
With women continuing to take on more prominent roles in every phase of life, work, and leadership positions in the United States, Grant hopes to pass along feelings of empowerment. While Grant has found success, there are always struggles, but she encourages others to embrace those challenges.
“I’m just a believer of never giving up,” Grant said. “You’re always going to face adversity. In that, I think the skills that I learned as a student-athlete applied to that transition going from the non-profit to my business and basketball scouting. I thought I had found my dream job in the non-profit because of the people I worked with and the kids. It was just the perfect situation. Then COVID happened. I wasn’t going to look at it as something negative. I was going to look at it as positive and something that was going to prepare you for what your purpose is really.
“The biggest challenge I’ve faced up to this point is what direction do I want to focus on with the company because there are so many avenues I want to go down. Team-building is huge among kids, but also the life skills and basketball event is big as well. So, just understanding where I need to focus (is a challenge). When you take on so many things, something is going to fall. I want to make sure I am prioritizing the things that are important. Just understanding boundaries, understanding what I can handle, and where I need help and asking for help is the biggest thing.”
Savvy Skills Academy has events coming up in Tampa and Atlanta and is working on other events in Milwaukee, Wis., and Baton Rouge, La.
