Brown sisters teaching what they've learned as coaches at Second Street

“It’s a big part of my life,” Shanae said of coaching. “If I wasn’t doing this I’d probably be doing something else I wouldn’t enjoy as much. I like being busy, being occupied.”

Shanice, Shanae and Shauntae, along with their sister Sheree, all played basketball at FHS.

At Second Street, Shanice is the girls middle school and elementary basketball coach, Shauntae is the middle school boys basketball coach and Shanae is the cheerleading coach, as well as serving as an assistant for Shanice. She’s also an assistant coach for the Frankfort High girls basketball team.

In addition to coaching, Shanice is a special education instructional assistant and Shauntae is an instructional assistant at SSS while Shanae works for state government in the Division of Driver Licensing.

Shauntae is in her first year of coaching the boys team, where the eighth-grade team had lost just one game through last week.

She and Shanae, who are twins, signed with Roane State Community College in Harriman, Tennessee, after graduating from FHS in 2013. They then went to Morehead with Shauntae graduating in 2018 and Shanae in 2019.

After graduating from Morehead, Shauntae began coaching and also training players, working with them one-on-one. Her first coaching job was with a second-grade AAU travel team.

“I like basketball and giving back to kids,” Shauntae said. “I like coaching a team. I’ve known some of these kids for a few years, and I have two nephews on the team.”

She has two other nephews, twins in the second grade at Second Street, who played up this year on the school’s fourth and fifth grade team.

“It’s about more than coaching,” she said. “I see them (the players) more often. I can eat lunch with them, and we’ll talk about life, grades. I see them at school all day, and I get to know them a little bit.”

Shanice, who graduated from FHS in 2010, began her coaching career as an assistant at FHS.

“I started when Nae and Tae were seniors or juniors in high school,” she said.

Shanice took a couple years off when her first son, now 12 years old, was younger, and she returned to coaching at Second Street.

“I like working with the girls and connecting with them outside of basketball,” she said.

Shanice is 11 credits shy of a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of the Cumberlands, and she thinks she’d like to stay in special education.

She sees the value of athletics for students.

“I think it was very important,” Shanice said of her athletic career. “My living it, I’m able to share things with kids now and how things are different. I can talk about what they want to do and how basketball can take them there.”

For Shauntae, family was a big part of her athletic career.

“All of us got to play together,” she said of herself and her three sisters. “Shanae and I were playing varsity in the seventh or eighth grade. They let us play up on the high school team, and it was surreal playing together. I’m grateful for it.”

Now the sisters’ attention has turned to helping youngsters reach their potential.

“I love it,” Shanae said of coaching. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I know kids at Second Street from my neighborhood. Even though I’m not a teacher I’m able to teach them a lot of my skills.”

And that could have the impact on students she’s coaching that her athletic career had on her.

“It was very important,” Shanae said. “It helped turn me into the person I am today.”