WACO, Texas — At La Vega High School, one family lives their life "The Willis Way".
For the first time in program history, La Vega girls basketball won back-to-back state titles with a group of seniors who have played together for years.
For Mimi Willis, she's been with her head coach her entire life.
"I didn’t make her pick up a basketball," Marcus Willis, La Vega girls basketball coach and Mimi's dad, said.
Because in the Willis family, it comes naturally.
"I never forced the game to go to her," Marcus said. "She chose it.”
At just five years old, Mimi Willis found a sport she loved.
"We won a little YMCA league here locally in the East Waco community and from then on I think we saw something," Marcus said.
Mimi’s hobby became a commitment and her dad, Marcus Willis, became a coach and father all in one.
"I mean, we used to get up and run a mile around the neighborhood, maybe go to the weight room," Mimi Willis, La Vega senior basketball players and daughter of head coach, said. "and then just chill at the house with the family and spend some time together.”
From the court to the dinner table, the two have always been close, but having your dad as your coach comes with various challenges.
"Mimi and I are best friends," Marcus said. "We have a great relationship outside of basketball. And what we did do at a younger age and then especially as she got older, is once we left the court, and we got to the house, we left it alone. What I did not want is that it's hard enough coaching your own daughter. What I don't want is your daughter always think about a coach and not think about her father.”
Mimi’s junior year, that father and coach watched his daughters world change.
"When I saw her go up for the layup and get the undercut and when she came down and I heard her, I knew exactly what it was," Marcus said. "I did not want to know, but me personally as a coach and a dad and me personally being in that situation, I knew exactly what it was.”
It was an all too familiar feeling that her dad faced when he tore his ACL playing football, and many years later his daughter now doing the same.
But, it was the kind of adversity that made the Willis family even stronger.
"When she had to go and get rehab the whole entire family was in the lab working with her. It made us grow together," Marcus said. "It made her better because we knew she had some major adversities she had to overcome because we knew what the end goal was for her.”
"Some days I didn’t know if i could do it. But with the help from them, I knew I could do it," Mimi said.
Her first state title with La Vega was won while injured on the sideline, but her second, was finally back playing with her teammates on the hardwood.
"Don’t get me wrong I love both of them," Marcus said. "But, I think this one was even more special.”
Back-to-back has a nice ring to it, but a Division I college athlete sounds even sweeter.
At the end of the day, I knew it was going to happen," Mimi said. "With my mindset and me staying focused. I knew it was going to happen.”
Mimi Willis is now Tarleton State bound with all the confidence in the world that she will succeed at the next level.
She may no longer rep the La Vega letters, but that father daughter competition will always be there.
"She’s special. She’s an amazing individual. Not just a great basketball player but she’s a great person," Marcus said. "I don’t remember the last time I’ve coached without my daughter.”
Mimi officially heads to Tarleton on June 16th to start her new college adventure and her dad will be cheering her on every step of the way, while he tries to snag that three-peat with the Lady Pirates.