Sheka came to MICR as a parent, drawn in by a game she had never seen before and a community that made her feel immediately at home. Years later, with her children having grown up inside the program, she is on the sideline herself as a coach, and she has a lot to say about why this organization is unlike anything she has ever been a part of.
Sheka did not go looking for MICR. She was invited to watch a game, showed up with her kids, and fell in love with a sport she had never seen before. "We had no clue what it was," she says, "but we fell in love." Her children wanted to play, and from that moment on, Sheka was all in.
Getting there took some persistence. Initially her children could not play because they did not attend one of MICR's partner schools. Sheka was so determined to find a way that she even considered relocating so her kids could attend a partner school and be part of the program. "I know that seems funny," she laughs. As it turned out, she did not have to move. A policy change made it possible for students whose schools did not offer rugby to play for a school that did, and that, as Sheka puts it, was their saving grace. Her children joined the program and never looked back.
What kept them, and what kept Sheka, was the community. She is candid about the fact that her family had been part of many sports organizations over the years, and that not all of those experiences had been positive. What she found at MICR was different in every way. "MICR was the most welcoming," she says. "They were the most family oriented. Nobody was left out. I just love that about them." As a single mom navigating the world of youth sports, that welcoming spirit was not a small thing. It meant everything.
She watched her children grow inside the program, gaining confidence, building friendships that have lasted years, and finding a sense of belonging that carried them well beyond the field. One of her daughters is now in college, still connected to rugby and still part of MICR's alumni community through the college mentoring program. She even showed up to a recent scrimmage wearing her MICR shirt. "That lets you know it left a huge impression on her," Sheka says. "She wanted everybody to know that she represents MICR!"
Sheka has always been a coach at heart. She grew up playing sports and has spent years volunteering as a coach in her community. Becoming a coach at MICR felt like the natural next step, a chance to be part of something she already loved in a deeper way. "I want to be a part of something great, something bigger than me," she says, "and I feel like MICR is that."
This fall she is coaching one of MICR's newest teams, working with a group of young men who are discovering rugby for the very first time. "Although it's a bit of a challenge working with a new group of boys who don't know anything about rugby," she says, "I commend those young men for the dedication of showing up to practices." Sheka is energized by what she sees in them every week.
What she brings to coaching is the same thing she values most about MICR itself, a genuine investment in the whole person. "You are a student first and an athlete second," she says. "We preach that and we stand by that." She thinks about the coaches who shaped her own life, and she coaches with the hope that she might do the same for someone else. "Any sport that I coach, my motto is that I leave the children with something that may help them later on in life," she says. "Something that they can use that may help them in real life."
Her message to any parent who is still on the fence is simple and direct. "Press the gas, move fast," she says. "Do not press the brake, go, go, go. It is a decision you will not regret. I wish I had known about it sooner. I wish that rugby existed when I was in school because I definitely would have played."
And her vision for MICR's future is just as bold. She believes the program deserves a place alongside every other sport offered in Memphis schools as a full part of the extracurricular landscape. "MICR is one of the most sound programs I have ever seen," she says. "Everybody should experience MICR!"