Rubama: Former All-Tidewater Basketball Player of the Year David Selby happy that his daughter, Brianna, is flourishing in her sport of choice

David Selby was one of the top athletes in South Hampton Roads in the late ’90s.

The Indian River High grad was first-team All-Tidewater in football at wide receiver. But his main sport was basketball, where he was named the 1997 All-Tidewater Player of the Year.

He later played basketball at Bradley University, where he earned Missouri Valley All-Newcomer team honors in 2000.

Former Indian River track star Fatima Joyner remembers Selby on the basketball court.

“He was younger than me, but I remember how fast he was on the court,” she said recently. “He moved faster than the ball.”

Their paths would cross again many years later.

Selby has five children; his oldest is Brianna. She started out playing basketball like her dad.

“Yeah, I heard about my dad, but I feel like basketball wasn’t really my thing,” she said.

She also tried volleyball, but didn’t make that team either.

So then she tried track. And it’s a good thing she did.

Not only has Selby blossomed into one of the top runners in Virginia, but she’s one of the fastest runners in the nation.

During the indoor season, the sophomore ran 6.87 to win the 55 meters at the Class 5 state indoor meet. Her time was the fastest in the state and one of the fastest in the nation. She also won the 300 meters.

At the Class 5 state outdoor meet, she won the 100 meters in 11.71 to set a new meet record and posted the fastest time in the state this season. She also won the 200 (23.92) and led the 4x100 relay — along with Endiyah Turner, Ciara Joyner-Plata and Aniyah Troupe — to victory.

This weekend, she will compete at the 2022 New Balance Nationals Outdoor Championships at the University of Pennsylvania’s historic Franklin Field — also home of the prestigious Penn Relays — where she will compete against some of the nation’s top athletes.

No one is prouder than her father.

“I let her find her own way,” he says proudly, wearing a T-shirt that shows off his daughter’s accomplishments. “She was a good basketball player and a helluva defensive player, but she chose track. I didn’t push my kids. If they want to do it, then I’m 100 percent behind them.”

How fast is Selby?

While at the recent state track meet, I heard several boys joking with each other, saying, “She can run as fast as you.”

But they were right.

“When I hear that, it actually makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something,” said the soft-spoken Selby. “I’ve been working hard.”

Joyner is now Selby’s track coach at Indian River. She saw Selby run in middle school with her daughter, Ciara, who is also a talented runner.

“When I saw them, I decided that I wanted to be a part of their journey,” said Joyner, who won the 400 meters at the state meet in 1993 with a still school-record time of 55.33. “I also wanted to give back to the youth in our community, especially my alma mater.”

She’s also gotten help from her boyfriend, Andre Cason, who is one of the greatest sprinters to come out of Hampton Roads. He was a member of the United States 4x100 relay team that won gold at the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo in a world-record time of 37.50 seconds. He’s also a two-time NCAA champion, seven-time All-American at Texas A&M and held the world indoor record in the 60 meters on several occasions.

He was going to practice one day when he saw Selby run.

“I saw some talent there,” he said, with his eyes wide open.

Cason said Selby suffered some injuries last season that set her back, but she’s back on schedule. He

thinks she could be one of the best female sprinters to come out of Hampton Roads when it’s all said and done.

“Brianna is focused. Our goal is to have her run 10.9, but we need her to run 10.9 consistently,” Cason said. “Anybody can do something once. We want her to be consistent with it.

“The only restrictions that she has is herself. But she’s beginning to buy into what coach Fatima and I are telling her.”

Selby has nothing but praise for Cason, who has helped her run personal-best times regularly.

“He’s really helped me,” she said. “I’m going to keep listening to him because I know I’m going to get better.”

Selby’s dream is to run 10.6 and run in the Olympics. “I think I can do it,” she said.

As for her dad, he’s loving every minute of it.

“I’m a proud father,” said Selby, who also was second team All-Tidewater as a junior. “It’s nothing like seeing your kids grow up and do better and try to accomplish more than you did.”

But the key to his daughter’s success is to remember what Cason preaches to parents.

“He tells me to let her be a kid,” he said. “So I’m going to listen to him. He tells me to just let her enjoy it. And that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to let her enjoy it.”

Larry Rubama, 757-575-6449, larry.rubama@pilotonline.com. Follow @LHRubama on Twitter.