Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1407173
hello@maconmagazine.com • 478.746.7779 ADVERTISE WITH US! Live Well is a special advertising section spotlighting local businesses in our December/January issue. She graduated from college with a degree in criminal justice, and when she came back to the states, she felt there were no job opportunities for her back home in Kansas. She moved to Atlanta to work as a probation officer. From there, she was encouraged by Latavia Coleman, her former teammate from overseas and Howard High School's girls basketball coach, to pursue coaching. Roberson was unsure at first, but admitted she's loved being a teacher and coach. She's also fallen in love with this community. "Living in Macon has afforded me an opportunity to fulfill my purpose as well as meet new friends who I now consider family," she said. Both Risper and Roberson have used the lessons they have learned from their backgrounds and from athletics to connect with their students. "Luckily, I'm in a position where I can use what I learned throughout my high school and college career and teach young girls – and young boys – the skills that I learned and how to apply what you learn in sports to life," Roberson said. Her goal is to teach the kids that there is more to sports than winning. "That's why I try to teach my kids because there's a lot of them that think about sports as just sports and it was a steppingstone for me. It was my future, really, to get me out of where I was," Roberson said. Teaching the kids and being there for them is the reason that being athletic director is most important to Roberson. "I think sometimes our kids get so caught up in the accolades and the shout outs and Facebook posts and they forget, you know, why we really play this game," Roberson said. "It's preparation for life because that adversity teaches you how to handle tough situations. "It's the little things that they don't think about. They always want to think about the three pointer or the dunk or something like that but it's more than that when it comes to sports, it's about life." AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2021 | maconmagazine.com 105