Dawn Staley and Zia Cooke are together again ... for an SEC cornhole showdown
Dawn Staley and Zia Cooke have celebrated national championships on Main Street. This weekend they hope to secure and celebrate a different win in downtown Columbia.
Staley and Cooke are teaming up to face former Florida Gators football players Jevon Kearse and Titus O’Neil in a charity cornhole match in Soda City Market on Saturday. From 9 to 11 a.m., Team South Carolina will take on Team Florida in a best-of-three series ahead of the homecoming game between the two schools. The event is sponsored by Johnsonville Sausage and open to the public.
Staley is no stranger to competitive cornhole. She played alongside professionals on ESPN last year ahead of the American Cornhole League’s World Championships. Before that, though, she’d never played — not even casually.
It ended up being deceivingly difficult, she said.
“You’re thinking it’s pretty easy. You just toss it up like a free throw,” Staley told The State. “You just toss it up, knock it down. But there’s strategy to it. There’s a way that you hold the bag. There’s a sticky side and there’s a sliding side of the bag. And I never knew.”
Staley started practicing two weeks ago for Saturday’s event. She bought her own cornhole set and logged a couple throws whenever she walked by. She spent last Saturday night practicing cornhole with the Southern Cal-Arizona football game on in the background. She’s also been studying the sport on YouTube.
She believes that all the preparation has knocked off the rust that accumulated since last year’s competition, but she also recognizes the pressure of the day could impact her performance.
“Performing in your home and performing when hopefully thousands of people are lined up out in Soda City on Saturday morning cheering us on, it’s a little bit different,” Staley said. “Your arm gets a little heavier, and you can’t control it until you settle in.”
Meanwhile, Cooke is excited to come back to Columbia after finishing her first season in the WNBA. It will be the first time she’s visited since being drafted by the Los Angeles Sparks. She and the other members of the beloved “Freshies” class of 2019 (besides Aliyah Boston) have plans to reunite for their first homecoming as alumni.
“I’m excited for that,” Cooke said. “I’m excited to see the new team that South Carolina has now. I’m excited to watch them in practice. I’m excited to get the chance to work out with Molly (Binetti), who is their trainer there. I’m super excited to be back. I can’t wait.”
She expects the cornhole competition to be very competitive, with Staley coaching her up just as she used to on the basketball court.
“I think it’s gonna be a lot of fun,” Cooke said. “Together we’re very goofy, and we have a good time. So I think it is gonna be a lot of fun. We’re coming to win, though.”
The winners of the best-of-three series will receive $5,000 from Johnsonville toward each of their charities of choice.
Staley’s charity is her non-profit Innersole, which provides homeless children and children in need with new sneakers as a method of boosting their confidence. Cooke’s is Ladies of Athletic and Academic Excellence, a charity her mother started when Cooke was in high school. The organization aims to help young women in Toledo, Ohio — where Cooke is from — achieve their goals.
This story was originally published October 12, 2023 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Dawn Staley and Zia Cooke are together again ... for an SEC cornhole showdown."
