Coach Jovon Carter: Southeast High
Jovon A. Carter, Sr. is the head softball coach and assistant girls basketball coach at Southeast High School. Coach Carter started his coaching career with Coach Kelvin Albritton and the Palmetto Little League Baseball when his oldest son began playing at 10 or 11 years old. When his son went on to play football for the Palmetto Trojans, he assisted the coaches at practice.
Prior to coming to Southeast, Coach Carter was the high school softball coach at Braden River High School. Head coach Melissa Dowling gave him the opportunity to join her coaching staff which began his coaching journey.
“Getting back into coaching had its obstacles,” he said, “having to learn the sport and seeing how the game had totally evolved,”
Coach Carter said. He spent four great years at Braden River and had an opportunity to meet a lot of great people along the way. In 2019, he became the assistant basketball coach at Braden River under Coach Stephanie Smith. “That same season we coached the team to a 17-10 record and a #4 ranking heading to the FHSAA Class 6A State Final 4 against Wekiva High School, where the team fell short of advancing to the championship game. I also had an opportunity to coach O’Mariah Gordon who won Florida Gatorade Player of The Year (2019-2020) (20202021), who now plays point guard at Florida State University.”
As a coach, Carter encourages his players to stay on top of their academics.
“My team goal and my motto has always been “Hustle Hard and Leave a Legacy,”
he said. “Once you hang up your jersey and cleats you can look back on the groundwork you have laid and the history that’s left behind.” Coach Carter arrived at Southeast in the 2022/2023 season as an assistant and JV head coach on the girls’ basketball team, working under head Coach Blackmon. That spring, he was offered the head coaching position of girls’ softball. “This is my third season as the head coach of the Lady Noles, and it has been a tough but fun road traveled. I have learned how to run a productive program, by giving kids an opportunity to do something different that is outside of their norms. I have had players who have furthered their careers at the University of South Florida and Florida State University,” he said.
Coach Carter is a Paraprofessional at Bashaw Elementary School, where, since 2015, he has worked directly with the Student Support Specialist. He is a 1998 graduate of Southeast and is currently enrolled at Grand Canyon University. He is Vice President of The New Manatee Broncos Football & Cheer Church and a member of St. Mary’s Missionary Baptist Church in Bradenton. When not working or coaching, he enjoys spending time with family and vacationing “whenever I can to get away from the daily madness”, he said. He has been married for 12 years to his wife, Nichole Trapp-Carter, and has five children,
Treveion 25, Jovon, Jr 23, Zayna 18, Brandi 16 and Sharde 16, with two granddaughters, Kah’Lanni and Alyza.
