Building Confidence Through Sports

Curt Pickering, coach of local basketball team, the Santa Barbara Breakers, spoke about his journey from self-conscious teen to internationally-known basketball coach. He grew up in Michigan, where his love was organizing basketball games in his community. Despite these early leadership experiences, Curt’s hopes for himself remained low. He never considered college for himself until his first job out of high school in a car factory. He knew that the work was not his passion and was inspired to attend college. He even started playing college basketball after being recruited by the coaches from the intramural program. Since then, Curt has travelled to the Phillipines, Dubai, Kuwait, Venezula and throughout the world with teams. However, he has always felt most at home in Santa Barbara and settled here in order to provide stability for his family. His personal breakthrough came, says Curt, when he was able to stop letting fear control his actions and gave himself a chance to excel. Instilling this confidence in young players remains his favorite part of coaching in the hope that others can also find the will to follow their passions.