Why Barack Obama Had To Quit Coaching Sasha's Basketball Team
Barack Obama is a huge fan of basketball. In fact, it was his approach to playing the game that convinced Michelle Obama's brother, Craig Robinson, that Obama was the right man for her.
"I realized he wasn't selfish," Robinson explained to the New York Post. "He wasn't greedy. He showed character on the court. He called fouls and gave up fouls. You have to trust the guys you're playing with in pickup, they'll make the right call. He did all of that. I was able to get back to her and say, 'He seems like a pretty good guy.' The best thing about it I told her is he didn't just pass me the ball because he was dating my sister."
Obama loves the sport so much that he even tried to coach his daughter Sasha's fourth-grade basketball team, but had to step down from the position after parents complained.
Some parents were upset that Sasha's team was being coached by the president
As Obama explained in his new memoir, A Promised Land (via People), he was serving his term as president when he took on the coaching duties with his personal aide, Reggie Love. Obama and Love helped lead the team to win the championship, which they "celebrated like it was the NCAA finals."
Not everyone was pleased that Obama was coaching the team, though, complaining that it was unfair as other schools didn't have someone as prestigious coaching their teams. "They must think being coached by you is something they can put on their Harvard application," Love joked to Obama at the time.
Obama and Love stepped down from their positions, although that time he spent with his daughter was something Obama truly enjoyed. "Every parent savors such moments, I suppose, when the world slows down, your strivings get pushed to the back of your mind, and all that matters is that you are present, fully, to witness the miracle of your child growing up," he wrote. "Given all the time I'd missed with the girls over years of campaigning and legislative sessions, I cherished the normal 'dad stuff' that much more."