Basketball Coach and Working Mom Pumps Breast Milk During Halftime

Basketball Coach Pumped Breast Milk for Her Newborn During Halftime of Championship Game

By Arnesia Young on April 7, 2021

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Adia Barnes Coppa (@adiab32)

As the colloquial saying goes, a mother’s job is never done. And while childrearing is a big enough job on its own, in today’s society, many women take on the challenge of being working mothers as well—a task that is often as thankless as it is challenging. Whether out of necessity or from a desire to pursue a lifelong passion or career, these women manage to do it all. This is all while juggling their own wellbeing and their sheer sanity hangs in the balance. It’s easy to let all that hard work get swept under the rug, but luckily there are women out there like Adia Barnes to remind us just how “badass” working moms can be.

As the head coach of the University of Arizona Wildcats women’s basketball team, Barnes had a lot on her plate during the 2021 NCAA Women's Basketball Championship in San Antonio. She was seen coming out of the locker room a little bit later than the rest of her team after the halftime break, which may have left some people wondering the reason. It turns out that the dedicated coach had spent a portion of halftime pumping breast milk for her 6-month-old baby girl, Capri. “For those of you who think this is too much information,” reporter Holly Rowe remarked, “let's normalize working mothers and all they have to do.”

Barnes gave birth to her daughter right when the basketball season started. And after taking only a week off to recover, she was back in the thick of it with her team—but not without a few challenges. “I was on Zoom calls four days after having a C-section, so it was hard,” Barnes explains, “But my team loved on me. I missed a couple of weeks, I got a little sick, they fought for me. I came back. They were patient.” And Barnes and her team’s determination took them all the way to the championship, though Arizona lost to Stanford in the end by just one point (53-54).

“This hurt but they played their hearts out and that's all that I can ask for. I'm so proud of them and what we accomplished this year!”Barnes tweeted after the game. The head coach has since received much praise and attention on social media being a working mother to a newborn while managing to lead the University of Arizona team to its first Final Four appearance.

University of Arizona women's basketball head coach Adia Barnes spent halftime pumping breast milk for her 6-month-old daughter during Sunday's championship game.

This is powerful from Adia Barnes 👏 @espnW pic.twitter.com/Bih5hKaVPc

— ESPN (@espn) April 5, 2021

The dedicated coach has since received much praise on social media for being a “badass” working mom.

“Let's normalize working mothers and all that they have to do to make it happen.” 🗣️🗣️🗣️ @sportsiren‘s report on Arizona head coach Adia Barnes pumping at halftime of the national championship. pic.twitter.com/xainGkoCKl

— The Undefeated (@TheUndefeated) April 4, 2021

“…for those of you who think this is too much information, let’s normalize working mothers and all they have to do.” #ncaaW

Thank you, Adia Barnes.

…and well done, @sportsiren!

— Kristen Ledlow (@KristenLedlow) April 4, 2021

Adia Barnes was late coming out of the locker room because she was pumping breast milk for her baby during halftime. She’s doing that while getting ready to coach the 2nd half of the #NationalChampionship game. Women are freaking amazing man!

— Women’s Hoopz (@WomensHoopz) April 4, 2021

Arizona coach Adia Barnes shot double birds to the haters after beating UConn and, per ESPN's Holly Rowe, pumped breastmilk for her baby at halftime of the national championship game.

She's a badass in every conceivable way.

— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_ATH) April 4, 2021