HobbsDailyReport.com
CHAPEL HILL – Amber Reddick, who reached 300 career basketball wins as head coach of Freedom High’s girls this season, has won a prestigious state coaching award.
Reddick is the 2018 Tony Webb Coach of the Year among females, the North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) announced Monday.
REDDICK
Roy Cooper, track and field coach at Apex for 33 years, was named the male Webb winner.
The Webb award recognizes an outstanding high school male and female coach each year. Recipients receive a $2,000 award and a commemorative plaque.
The winners will be recognized May 3 at the NCHSAA’s Annual Meeting in Chapel Hill.
Reddick has coached Freedom’s girls for 14 years, and she reached 300 career wins in February (305-90 record). She is the first coach, male or female, from a Greater Hickory area school to win a Webb award.
Reddick has also won these awards during her career: National Federation of High School Coaches Association (NFSHSA) Coach of the Year, State Coach of the Year for girls from the N.C. Associated Press, the N.C. Basketball Coaches Association (NCBCA) Coach of the Year and USA Today N.C. Coach of the Year.
She is also a two-time conference and district coach of the year and has coached in both the Carolinas All-Star Classic and the East-West All-Star Game.
In 2016, the Patriots went undefeated and won the school’s fifth girls’ basketball state title. Reddick played on a Freedom state championship team in 1995 and was an assistant coach on the 2002 state title team. She graduated from Freedom in 1997 and played college basketball at UNC-Asheville.
She serves on the board of directors for the N.C. Coaches Association (NCCA) and the NCBCA. Seventeen of her Freedom players have received basketball or academic scholarships in 14 years.
To give back to the community, Reddick’s teams host a community camp for girls every summer. They also host a “Pink Night” game to raise money/awareness for cancer and cancer research each season. The team sponsors a less fortunate family each Christmas and last year, players tutored at risk elementary school students.
“I would like to thank my parents, Martin and Martha Snipes, for all their support throughout my entire coaching and playing career,” Reddick said in a Burke County Schools press release. “I would also like to thank my husband, Brian, for all his support and the late nights.
“We welcomed a beautiful baby girl into our family this season and coaching and being a mom wouldn’t be possible without all of them in my corner.
“I would also like to thank all of the dedicated players I have coached throughout the past 17 years. Success like this doesn’t happen without talented, hard-working individuals like the young women I have been privileged to coach.
“I’m also grateful to Burke County Public schools for the opportunity to work in such a well-rounded school system that shows so much support to extra-curricular activities.”
BCPS Superintendent Dr. Larry Putnam praised Reddick, saying in a press release: “Congratulations to Coach Reddick on this distinguished award. Coach Reddick is a wonderful role model to our students on and off the basketball court. She is a great coach and places high values on sportsmanship and academics…”