She Got Next, Episode 35: Pepper Persley talks to Las Vegas Aces president Nikki Fargas

“Well, I fell in love with the game of basketball at a very early age. I grew up playing and competing at the Boys and Girls Club in my local town of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, the most small town right outside of East Tennessee, right in East Tennessee area. And so when I was six years old, I played organized basketball with the Boys and Girls Club.”

Pepper mentioned that Nikki played and coached with the legendary Pat Summitt. And this is what president Nikki had to say about the late great coach Summitt.

“Number one, when you play for a coach like Pat Summitt, the discipline that she conveyed the discipline that she demanded that we make sure that we’re giving our all and everything that we do. That was something that I learned about myself being with her being able to manage my time.”

President Nikki mentioned she wasn’t planning on becoming a coach but here is what she had to say about coaching:

“Actually think I kind of ran from it. I was like, No, there’s no way I’m going to be a coach if I won’t have a life and it takes up too much of your time. And I was doing broadcasting at the time. And I was watching games, analyzing games, going to practices, going to shootarounds creating scouting reports. And something has dawned on me that I think I just want to do more with the players I want to be more hands-on with them as opposed to on the external and all I’m doing is talking about them. I want to talk to them. I want to be there for them.”

Enjoy Pepper’s latest podcast episode with Las Vegas Aces president Fargas.