Fighting Scouts choose one of their own, Mitchell is first female boys’ basketball head coach at Window Rock

Posted by David Smith | Jul 6, 2023 | Basketball |

CHINLE
Former Fighting Scouts all-star basketball player Ashley Mitchell has been chosen to be the new Window Rock boys basketball head coach for the upcoming 2023-2024 season. She is the first female to hold that position.

“Coming in as the first female head coach, it feels like a great honor to be coach at Window Rock High,” Mitchell said. “It’s a great honor itself considering all of the history with basketball and their successes.”

As the new head coach, Mitchell said she wants to build a stronger relationship with the program and the athletes, who she already has started training this summer. She believes being a former star player and an alumna of WRHS will bring a sense of pride and tradition to the program and that’s something the boys can look up to.

Mitchell has been playing basketball since she was five years old. She comes from a strong basketball family, with a collective 13 state championships between all of them.

As she grew during that time up to today, Mitchell said she has seen and experienced the benefits of playing sports and living an active lifestyle can have on a person. That plus her family’s teachings is what prompted her to live a healthy life.

Mitchell is a native of Window Rock, growing up in the community and graduating as a Fighting Scout. In all that time she constantly played basketball, eventually becoming a state champion in her high school days as well as Player of the Year in the 3A North Division.

She started her coaching experience as a teen by helping out at basketball camps and leading small groups of kids in various drills. She was reluctant at first but came to enjoy showing kids how to properly execute a move and to carry out an exercise drill properly. Because of this, she believes in young coaches who display that special talent and responsibility like she did.

She graduated from Western New Mexico University in 2015 and returned to Window Rock right after that. Since then, she has been working at Tséhootsooí Medical Center in Fort Defiance as a prevention specialist within the behavioral health department.

Outside of work, Mitchell likes being an active part of the community. She offers skills work during the offseason for any young athlete willing to learn basketball from her. She also volunteers to teach volleyball, oversee local runs and a hiking program, and create talking circles at schools and within the community.

It was through such volunteering that Mitchell got to meet and interact with the high school’s sport teams. She knows many of the players on the Window Rock boys’ basketball teams and she is aware of their different skill sets.

At work, Mitchell also helps coordinate the hospital’s health promotion outreach and other collaborations within the community. She is a big advocate for healthy living within the community and throughout the Navajo Nation.

Mitchell said that she is driven to help others in her hometown by what she was taught by her father, Darwin Mitchell, a recreation specialist who has also done a lot for his home community. Like her father, she just wants to promote a healthy lifestyle for kids and be a role model that they can look up to.

“I consider myself being like a good product of what healthy living and healthy promotion could be and I believe that if I can model a healthy living style, that’s a good role model for kids to see, considering that I didn’t grow up with a perfect life, but If they can see that, if I can get that message across that if I could do it, they could do it,” Mitchell said.

It was during one of these sessions, some of the boys suggested she should apply to be their new head coach. Mitchell wasn’t sure about being the head boys coach at first, but she was inspired to apply for any coaching position thinking she can provide a valuable service to the school.

Mitchell is grateful to receive the head coach position. She said the comments made by the boys to be their leader remind her that they believe in her, which encourages her to do her best.

Mitchell is eagerly looking forward to this coming season and is doing what she can now to help prepare the boys for a new year of competitive basketball, and encouraging them to excel in the classroom, too.

“I’m just grateful,” Mitchell said. “All glory goes to God and I’m just grateful to be a part of this program and I am excited to see what positive things can come out of this season.”