Chatt Chats: In-depth, real, and behind-the-scene stories of our incredible GoMocs student-athletes & programs, past and present. Produced by Tate Johnson, Production Director, and Corey Belonzi, Strategic Communications Assistant Director. Story told by Shane Shoemaker, GoMocs.com student writer. The Chatt Chats series earned national recognition from the College Sports Information Directors of America in 2020 as the top video/program feature across all college athletics.

Vol. 5 - Regina Kirk's Readiness & Focus Once Set Records, Mentors Others Now
 
UTC Hall of Famer Regina Kirk lives by a motto: "Be ready and stay focused."
 
"Those are my two things," she said.
 
Those two things made the Oak Ridge, Tennessee native one of the most recognizable and decorated athletes in UTC and SoCon women's basketball history. It's not just a motto, though, but a life lesson that she's teaching to the elementary and varsity kids she coaches at a local church in Chattanooga.
 
"I told my kids this year […] my word, one word, would be ready," she said. "I just tell the kids to be ready for anything and to stay focused."
 
Readiness and focus are likely what helped her score a record 45 points in a single game against North Alabama her senior year, along with 11 other records at UTC.
 
You could say it was from her mother whom she learned that readiness and focus from. Being ready was something her mother had to do as a single parent, raising her and her sister alone.
 
"My mom, she was my biggest fan and my biggest inspiration," she said. "I didn't learn from her besides off the court. Her raising two girls by herself […] it makes you want to succeed."
 
When the time came to decide on her collegiate career, Kirk was more than ready to step onto the court and show her skills. She didn't want to wait to play, she wanted to be on the hardwood immediately, which is what heavily influenced her decision in becoming a Moc. 
 
There were other schools like Auburn and ETSU recruiting Kirk's talents, she said, but it was then coach Sharon Fanning's kindness, coupled with guaranteed playing time that attracted her to UTC. "That was a determining factor for me to coming to UTC and [Coach Sharon Fanning] guaranteeing I would get some playing time," she said. "Because I didn't want to sit on nobody's bench. I just wanted to be on the floor all the time. And she more or less guaranteed me I'd be on the floor a majority of the time."
 
In her four seasons at UTC, she amounted for 2,376 points, a school record, and helped lead her team to win back-to-back SoCon championships in 1985 and 1986, winning the MVP in the 1986 tournament. 
 
Where her multiple records can be quantified and measured to accentuate her athleticism, there's something much larger in her life that can't be measured that makes her who she is as a person today: faith.
 
Her faith has immeasurable value. When the ball of life was hitting the rim instead of passing through the net, it was her faith that allowed her to see past the hurts and previous mistakes she made. It's given her a strong foundation for her life to be built upon, granting her new experiences and opportunities, and namely, a passion for giving back to those in need.
 
"It has really been a change in my life," she said. "It allowed me to realize my self-worth because before, because of the mistakes I made in life, I was, like, in a shell and I didn't want to come out. But because of my faith, I had to come out. And God just showed me everybody makes mistakes in life. It's not the mistakes that you make, it's who they make you become. It brought a lot out of me as far as me just stepping out of the boat […] to do what God actually had for me and realize what my purpose was in life."
 
That purpose currently is reaching out and helping her community in Chattanooga. And much like her game, she's not on the perimeter taking long shots; she's on the inside, in the thick of things, hoping to help others rebound.
 
In the past year, when a worldwide pandemic occurred, she partnered with others in the Chattanooga community to help feed the homeless. She also started her own charity, The Regina Kirk Foundation, which focuses on the "mentorship, leadership and sportsmanship to girls between the ages of 9 and 14 years of age with understanding their self-worth and value to the community, both internal and external."
 
Kirk credits her late mother for the inspiration and motivation behind the start of the foundation, continuing to use the same life lessons she learned to help the youth in Chattanooga that are struggling with their own life problems. 
 
"My big goal is to be able to continue to serve youth and to see them more successful because I think the success rate of our youth has gone down," she said. "There's a lot of untapped potential in Chattanooga. And that's one of the main things that I try to focus on, is tapping into the potential of the kids that have the potential that are underprivileged and just don't have that support." 
 
As talented of a basketball player as Kirk was and still is, she knows that her lessons on the court is where she can start to help, but not where they stop. "A lot of lessons you learn on the court, you definitely apply them off the court," she said. 
 
Readiness and focus are something she applies in everything that she's doing, whether it's still being active in competitive athletics like the Senior Olympics or mentoring the next generation about life through the game of basketball.
 
She's always ready.
 
SERIES ARCHIVES – SEASON 2
Vol. 5 - Regina Kirk Impacting Lives Through a Triumphant Journey
 
SERIES ARCHIVES – SEASON 1
Vol. 4 - Holiday Spirit Shines Bright
Vol. 3 - Strength Through Adversity, the NaKeia Burks Story - *#1 in Nation (CoSIDA - 2020)
Vol. 2 - Together is Better, Siblings Find New Home in Chattanooga
Vol. 1 - Mission First, Family Always
 
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