Before she was a WNBA champion, Olympic gold medalist, and head coach of the Duke University women’s basketball team, Kara Lawson was a star in NoVA. Lawson, now 44, led the West Springfield High School Spartans to state championships in 1997 and 1999. She was recently tapped to coach the USA Basketball Women’s National Team at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, and we asked her how her NoVA roots have helped shape her impressive career.
What do you like to do when you visit NoVA?
I’m from Alexandria. And my mom still lives in Alexandria. I come home a lot … more during the off-season. Mostly, I like to just spend time with my family and my friends.
What do you love about the area?
Northern Virginia is great because you have everything. You have sports, you have theater, you have culture, you have sightseeing, you have outdoors. You basically have everything that you need.
The NoVA youth sports culture can be hyper-competitive. What’s your advice for young athletes with dreams of going pro?
Going to school in the area really prepares you for success, because you play a lot of good competition. You have a lot of good coaching in the area, a lot of good players. While college was certainly a step up, I felt very prepared when I got there. So, in our area, if you can rise to be one of the best, then that usually means you’re pretty good. It’s a good barometer for the rest of the country.
What did you learn from your coaches at West Springfield?
I learned about teamwork. I knew about teamwork from when I was young, but we had very good team chemistry at West Springfield, and everyone had a great understanding of their roles and what they needed to do for the team to be successful. We only lost two games in three years, and we have a close group — six of my high school teammates came to the press conference [announcing my Olympic coaching appointment]. I’m still good friends with a lot of my teammates from high school.
Was coaching something you’ve always wanted to do?
Yeah, I have wanted to be a coach since I was 7 years old.
What did being selected as the Olympic team’s head coach mean to you?
It represents the journey that it takes to do that. It makes me smile, because I think it symbolizes that I dedicated myself from when I was young to a goal. And I stayed with it over 10 years, 20 years, and was able to reach it. So it was very fulfilling.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Feature image of Kara Lawson courtesy USA Basketball
This story originally ran in our December issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to Northern Virginia Magazine.
