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Natalie Howard, TOT North Atlanta, GA Director

Her name is Natalie Howard. And she is by no means a stranger to basketball at all! As a matter of fact, everyone who knows her apart from family–childhood friends, classmates, colleagues, coworkers, cohorts and comrades of every kind, knows that basketball has played a significant part in her life, practically all of her life! As a youth growing up in her hometown, Hobbstown, a historical African-American community in Bridgewater, New Jersey, she is most remembered for running up and down the basketball court keeping up with the boys. 

At about age 9, Natalie vividly recalls a most impactful experience that fueled her fire for the game. One sunny, summer afternoon after playing in the park, her neighbor and beloved mentor, Johnny, presented her with a brand new basketball wrapped in the box just for her! After screaming with excitement and scampering off the court to show her mother, she believes that that day was one that planted the seed of passion for the game in her heart. Over the years that seed took root and basketball has been bouncing along her life’s journey, scoring on every level ever since!

After moving to the Sunshine State in the early 80s, Natalie attended Terry Parker High School in Jacksonville, FL where she was an All-City/All Conference standout averaging 17.7 points per game. From there she was recruited to play for Team Florida, an AAU squad that represented the United States in Seoul, Korea, in 1985. Upon graduating High School, she received an NCAA Womens basketball scholarship to the University of South Carolina; but desiring to be closer to home, she later transferred to the University of Central Florida in 1988 where she starred two seasons for the Lady Knights averaging 17 ppg as an All New-South Womens Athletic Conference selection.

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Even with these accomplishments, the best was yet to come!  And it did back in 2001 when Natalie stepped onto the courts of Edward Waters College in Jacksonville, FL after an 11 year sabbatical. She is best remembered there for wearing jersey #33–the married mother with the 4 kids who attended all of her games along with their dad! While also handling a full time corporate job, Mrs. Howard managed to tap in 15 points and 7 rpg for the Lady Tigers and remarkably obtained her Bachelors degree in Business Administration with honors! As a result, she was honored for making the EIAC Conference’s All-Academic team sporting a 3.98 GPA. To top it off, her Alma Mater credited her for leading the team to its very first Conference championship and NAIA National tournament appearance ever in the school’s history! After receiving notoriety in the local news for her achievements, Natalie was later voted the team’s Most Valuable Player and Athlete of the Year for the 2001-2002 season!

Yet her passion on the court didn’t end there. After a few years of playing professionally for the Pro Am Lady Knighthawks, Mrs. Howard transitioned her game to the next dimension—coaching. From volunteering at the YMCA and Police Athletic League, to building numerous private and public Middle and High school programs, Coach Howard’s passion for coaching was recognized all throughout Duval county. She stretched her roots even further down the coast to Polk County in 2018 where she continued the tradition for 4 more years at Lake Wales High School.  

Upon heeding the call to partner with her daughter who currently oversees her own basketball group training developmental program in Atlanta, Coach Howard uprooted and replanted in the Peach State to assist in the growth process while accepting an offer to take her 10th year of public school teaching along. Meanwhile, she was introduced to the TOT Franchise opportunity and seized it with the motivation to plant new seeds, spread her roots and flourish in new territory! Her vision is to exercise her many years of skill-building, teaching and developmental coaching expertise to build student-athletes as young as 3 years old and prepare them for success on every level of their young lives! Fittingly, Teams of Tomorrow is the perfect foundation!