Beyond the Court: Coach Casey Godwin
04/22/2019
Casey Godwin, head coach for the 12U Team Shooters Elite, beat the odds when doctors said he shouldn’t have survived. He attributed his miraculous recovery to his AAU team.
A near death experience is something you never want to experience, but missing it twice within a year means you have to be doing something right. Casey Godwin, head coach for the 12U Team Shooters Elite, beat the odds when doctors said he shouldn’t have survived. He attributed his miraculous recovery to his AAU team. “[They] motivated me to drive even harder,” Godwin said. “I love my boys. I love my kids, but I love my boys that I have been coaching for the last five years. I couldn’t quit on them.”
Godwin started having pains in his left leg in January of 2018. The pain eventually became bad enough that his wife took him to the emergency room. A skin infection had formed in Godwin’s leg, forcing the doctors to take him into emergency surgery to cut out the infection. “The doctors were basically saying if you hadn’t brought him in when you did, he probably wouldn’t still be here,” said his wife Chandra Godwin. The recovery process was a long road of staying almost a month in the hospital and rehab for two weeks after that.
Just when things were looking up, the infection came back a second time. Godwin was once again rushed to the hospital and shocked the staff by dodging fate. “[The doctors] were like we don’t understand how this is happening, but the fact that you made it back when you did, you essentially saved his life,” Ms. Godwin reminisced. His body was badly beaten at this point after going through two major surgeries and medication to fight the infection. Godwin was left wheelchair bound for several months.
“They were telling me that I couldn’t do the thing I wanted to do. One of the things I wanted to do was coach AAU,” said Godwin. “I always coach my own team, and they said you can’t coach this year. You are going to have to sit out.” Godwin knew that his kids were looking for ‘Coach Casey’ to walk through the door and be the strong man they knew. The 2018 AAU Spring Classic at ESPN Wide World of Sports was the next tournament on the schedule, so Godwin had one of the player’s siblings push him around in a wheelchair. “He said he could not go without being with his boys,” said Ms. Godwin. “They are what kept him motivated, what kept him pushing and he would always use himself as an example to keep them going forward.” Coaching was Godwin’s purpose in life, his reason to get up every day.
“How hard I push them, I pushed myself just as hard, so that they could see my success story,” confessed Godwin. “I tell them to be a success. No matter what you do, be successful at it. I wanted to live that and not just say it.” Coach Godwin was a success in every way imaginable. He went from laying in a hospital room, to a wheelchair, to walking with a cane. He escaped death’s door twice and still has both of his legs.
“Last year this time, I had to be pushed in on a wheelchair, in this very arena. To be walking in here today is real emotional right now,” Godwin said with tears in his eyes. “You see me today, I have both of my limbs, and I just stood over there and coached a full game. I walked from the parking lot to here. I know all of it is possible because of God. God put those boys in my life to continue to motivate myself and to continue to push.”
Godwin started having pains in his left leg in January of 2018. The pain eventually became bad enough that his wife took him to the emergency room. A skin infection had formed in Godwin’s leg, forcing the doctors to take him into emergency surgery to cut out the infection. “The doctors were basically saying if you hadn’t brought him in when you did, he probably wouldn’t still be here,” said his wife Chandra Godwin. The recovery process was a long road of staying almost a month in the hospital and rehab for two weeks after that.
Just when things were looking up, the infection came back a second time. Godwin was once again rushed to the hospital and shocked the staff by dodging fate. “[The doctors] were like we don’t understand how this is happening, but the fact that you made it back when you did, you essentially saved his life,” Ms. Godwin reminisced. His body was badly beaten at this point after going through two major surgeries and medication to fight the infection. Godwin was left wheelchair bound for several months.
“They were telling me that I couldn’t do the thing I wanted to do. One of the things I wanted to do was coach AAU,” said Godwin. “I always coach my own team, and they said you can’t coach this year. You are going to have to sit out.” Godwin knew that his kids were looking for ‘Coach Casey’ to walk through the door and be the strong man they knew. The 2018 AAU Spring Classic at ESPN Wide World of Sports was the next tournament on the schedule, so Godwin had one of the player’s siblings push him around in a wheelchair. “He said he could not go without being with his boys,” said Ms. Godwin. “They are what kept him motivated, what kept him pushing and he would always use himself as an example to keep them going forward.” Coaching was Godwin’s purpose in life, his reason to get up every day.
“How hard I push them, I pushed myself just as hard, so that they could see my success story,” confessed Godwin. “I tell them to be a success. No matter what you do, be successful at it. I wanted to live that and not just say it.” Coach Godwin was a success in every way imaginable. He went from laying in a hospital room, to a wheelchair, to walking with a cane. He escaped death’s door twice and still has both of his legs.
“Last year this time, I had to be pushed in on a wheelchair, in this very arena. To be walking in here today is real emotional right now,” Godwin said with tears in his eyes. “You see me today, I have both of my limbs, and I just stood over there and coached a full game. I walked from the parking lot to here. I know all of it is possible because of God. God put those boys in my life to continue to motivate myself and to continue to push.”
