Daily Inspiration: Meet Robin Jackson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Robin Jackson

Hi Robin, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In June of 2012 I moved down to Durham from Michigan. Once I moved here, I found a few friends who were in the basketball community, and asked if they knew of any women’s leagues in the area. They didn’t know of any women’s leagues, but there was a coed league out in Raleigh. Through the coed league, I met some of the females and asked if they would be interested in playing in an all women’s league. There weren’t too many females who played in the league, but LUCKILY the one’s who did and wanted to participate in the women’s league knew other ladies in the area who also played so they were able to create their own teams.

In May of 2017, The Durham “Women’s” League officially had our first game. Ladies would meet up once a week on Thursdays to come hoop, and compete for the championship trophy. Due to the Durham Women’s League being the ONLY women’s league that was around, we attracted players from cities such as Winston Salem, Charlotte, Greensboro, Greenville, Fayeteville, Raleigh, and Wake Forest. More and more people wanted to join, so we were able to run 3 seasons per year. We did this all the way until Covid hit,

Just as we were gearing up to start our Spring 2020 season, Covid put a halt on all of our plans. As time went on, I felt like there may not be many players wanting to play once everything was starting to open back up, so I thought The Women’s League may be over. Many ladies had life changes such as moving from the area, getting married, and starting a family which took away from their free time. In March of 2021 I posted a flyer for the women’s league to start back up, and that is actually how The Durham Men’s League was created.

I posted the flyer, and also reached out to some of the guys who I played ball with and asked them to send it to any ladies they know who hooped. In doing so, a few of them messaged me back asking if I knew of any men’s leagues in the area since nothing had really opened back up since Covid. I had enough men ask me that I thought to myself, maybe I should add a men’s league alongside the women. So I did!

I reached out to the gym I rented, and extended the reservation without even knowing if I would have a single men’s team sign up. Once that was done, I asked all the guys I knew who hooped if they wanted to play, and to also reach out to EVERYONE they knew to see if they wanted to play as well. Anytime I was out in public and saw someone who LOOKED like they played ball I asked if they were interested, and tried my best to get them signed up. I said to myself “as long as I get 4 teams signed up, I’m going to go through with the league”. The first season we ended up with 6.

After the first season, word started to get out around the city about the league, so when fall came around we ran another season, but this time we had 9 teams join. From there we made it all the way up to 14 teams, and having to split them into conferences. I thought this was just a rec league where players came to the games, played, went home, and didn’t really think about the games. Apparently it was not. It wasn’t until I became more present on social media, that I realized just how much the league meant to the guys who were playing in it. I saw that they posted about it ALL the time, and players (Jimmy and Geo) even started an entire podcast about the league.

As time went on, and the league began to grow players wanted more awards/activities. One of the men’s league players (Giovanni Bell) suggested that we have an ALL-STAR game. The first ALL-STAR game included players from every single team competing against each other, and brought out 100+ spectators. Since then, competition has gotten steep so we have players from both men’s and women’s leagues vote teammates and league players into the game, and we have added activities such as 3pt contest, shoot-out, dunk contest and skills challenge to our All-Star Weekend.

Our All-Star games brought many spectators out from the community, including some of the “seasoned vets” who have been around basketball all of their life. In 2022 during one of our games, a gentleman (Kevin) walked up to me and asked if I would be interested in starting a league for seniors 50+. He explained to me that he thought that there was enough interest for them to get enough teams to sign up and play. HE WAS RIGHT! We were able to kick off our first season of The Durham Senior League with 6 teams of players between the ages of 50 and 82 (YES 82). Since then we’ve had 4 successful seasons and are looking to expand for that age group and add more participants in the future.

Today The Durham League has over 200 players between the 3 leagues that we run, and we are definitely looking to grow in the community!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There have definitely been some obstacles in running the league. I would say the biggest obstacle is gym space/ gym time. Trying to fit in 3 leagues that all want to play at the same time has been challenging. Surprisingly there are not a lot of gyms for rent in Durham which makes things a little difficult. If the place that we are having games at has another their own company activity going on, our games have to suffer the cancellation. My main goal is to remain inside of the city lines so that players can remain in their own community, and don’t have to travel to surrounding cities to play.

Another obstacle I face is due to the amount of players, there will always be people that will have a complaint or believe that since they want something changed you need to change it. I learned VERY fast that if majority of the people are happy, you cannot let 1 or 2 people with a complaint change your ways. You will NEVER make everyone happy.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
The Durham League has grown into a league that is based around the community. The thing that I am most proud of is that I am able to provide an outlet for men and women to get away from their everyday busy lives, and I am able to provide that in the city of Durham. The primary age range for the league is that point in adulthood when people are settling into their careers, or starting a family so they are caught up in their work, or basing their schedule around their children. I try my best to have the majority of the seasons played on a weekday evening so that players are able to have their fun, but also be able to focus on their kid’s activities on the weekends.

What I’m most proud of and what sets us apart from other leagues is the community that the players have created within the league. Running 3 different “leagues” at once, with each of them overlapping and sometimes playing on the same day has helped people who may have never crossed paths connect to one another. With other leagues, players will come, play in the game and leave. With The Durham League players tend to stick around for a game or 2, or come early to catch a game they want to see. Players will also come watch games on days they are not playing just to support other teams. The support that the women’s league players give to them men, and the men’s league players give to the women is top tier!

I am also proud that our league can be an example to other leagues. I have had multiple people reach out to me to congratulate me on how well we are doing, and other start-up league owners ask for advice on how to create or run their leagues.

The Durham League is known for being one of the most competitive and well run leagues in RDU! I would say 80% of the women in women’s league played college ball, and 60% for the men’s league. Although the league is competitive, we are open to players of ALL skill levels.

What does success mean to you?
Success to me is defined as whatever you put your mind to and successfully execute. Too many people believe that success is based only by how much money a person has or their job. I don’t believe that success is solely defined by money, it is defined by your thinking. What people see as a “small” thing, could be a huge success in someone else’s eyes.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://WWW.DURHAMLEAGUES.COM
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/durhamleagues?igsh=MTY1OTZ4bWo1bG5qZg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/durham.leagues.5?mibextid=LQQJ4d