Woman thanks boss who let her bring her son to work at dream job as men’s college basketball coach

Mothers often face unique challenges that can unfortunately frequently interfere with their dreams and career aspirations. Many employers unfortunately do not facilitate the delicate balance that a mother might need in order to thrive in both areas of her life. Luckily for Ashley Webster, this was not the case.

The 26-year-old mom was contacted last year with an offer she had always dreamed of: the opportunity to join the coaching team of Florida’s Saint Leo University men’s basketball team. But one thing “stood” in her way: she was already several months pregnant with her first child.

To make matters even more difficult, Webster’s trajectory was clear: with the child’s father no longer in the picture, she was set to be a single mom.

But the young pregnant woman refused to let go of her longtime dream career. She absolutely knew she wanted to make it work, but just couldn’t yet figure out how.

The Proposition
Her concerns soon disappeared when the head coach of the basketball team, Lance Randall, came up with an unusual proposition: he simply told her that she should bring her baby with her to work.

“He’s like, ‘Well, you can bring him with you,’ Webster recounted. “He was like, ‘We have plenty people in the gym that can watch over him and that way, he’s with you.”

Indeed, for the family-oriented coach, it was simple: it came down to knowing that Webster’s knowledge and skills would be an asset on his coaching team, so he just had to figure out a way to make things work.

“It wasn’t necessary for me to clear a path, but just to make sure she had the opportunity to do it,” the coach said. “OK, she’s eight months pregnant, she’s going to have a baby, she’s about to go into a male-dominated world, so we just have to make this work from our end. We just have to figure out how to do it.”

“I didn’t really do anything, we just said, bring him, we’ll figure it out,” he said. “It was a really special year to have him around.”

And as it turns out, things have worked out even better than anyone could have ever imagined.

Dream Team + 1
In February 2021, the 26-year-old mom welcomed her bundle of joy, Aiden, into her life. Just three short months later in May 2021, mother and son were heading in to work… together.

At first, Webster had many apprehensions on how the team would react to the presence of a tiny 3-month-old on their basketball court.

But, according to Webster, from day one, the entire basketball team unofficially adopted little Aiden, bringing him into their circle with open arms.

Everybody looks out for Aiden,” said Webster. “I could walk out of the gym and I wouldn’t think anything of it because I knew Aiden was going to be OK.”

Aiden, now almost 2, and who is named after an uncle who is also a college basketball player, has essentially grown up on the court. He has gone, says Webster, from sleeping during early morning 6 a.m. practices, to zooming around court in his baby walker, to now running around the court on his own two feet.

Through it all, the team has always embraced him and he is a now an integral part of the larger family.

Everyday that I was in the gym, he was there,” Webster said. “He brought, I would say, happiness – everybody was excited to see him. He’s a very happy baby, so he just gives off joy.”

For Randall, who has been the head coach of the Saint Leo men’s basketball team for 9 years, Aiden has in fact helped the team out as much as him being able to be at work with his mom has helped her.

“It became a really great thing for our guys,” he said. “We’d be on the floor in our film sessions and Aiden would come toddering over and fall in the lap of one of our guys and sit there and watch. It’s adorable.”.

Randall adds that Aiden’s innocence and vulnerability has offered the team with an additional benefit: the presence of a young child can often help alleviate the high level of stress that typically comes with playing college level sports.