Sister and brother duo turn shared hobby into family business

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) -A brother and sister duo is leading the Lady Bulldogs to victory.

Eboni Fields played basketball at Laney, then Georgia State, and returned to Butler High School for the coaching job.

While building her team, she pulled in her brother, a standout at Laney. For them, basketball isn’t just a hobby but a family business.

“I will make sure they are focused, but she makes sure they’re really focused,” said Jay.

Eboni added, “It takes a different type of work ethic to make it to the next level. If you love the game and that’s what you want to do, I’m gonna push you to that point.”

Eboni got the call from Butler to be their head coach four years ago, right after she was making a call of her own.

Jay said: “I was like, are you looking for an assistant? She was like, ‘you know, I got my number one guy’.”

Her brother.

Eboni said: “We’re like seven years apart. We’ve always been, you know, basketball, basketball, basketball. A lot of people ask us who’s the oldest because I look a little younger because he has the facial hair.”

The court has been their play-pen for a while. Their mother, Charlotte Fields coached at Laney.

Jay said: ‘It’s not like you just out there trying to just learn because you already been around it your whole life. Coaching is basically in the DNA. After watching it for so many years, you already know how to get into coaching and what to do, what to say, how to motivate people.”

And every game counts.

Eboni said: “He knows his role. I know what he can do. So I trust him with the things that he do. I don’t have to ever question what he has going on.”

The coaching duo led Butler to their first region championship in two decades in 2021 and have sights on making it past the Final Four in the state championship run this season.

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