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Love of Sports Connects Father & Daughter

Rob Garver

   WASHINGTON - Before coronavirus concerns moved much of his
   side-business as a personal trainer online, Thamar Davis's clients
   often got a package deal when they turned up at the gym.
   Not only did they get the benefit of Davis, a teacher who studied
   physical education and coaching in college, they also got 10-year-old
   Riley Cooper, his girlfriend Domonique Gorham's daughter. A rising
   fifth-grader at Whittier Education Campus in Washington, D.C., Riley
   has seen Davis explain the routines and exercises so many times that if
   a client has trouble understanding something, she's right there to
   demonstrate.
   "If he's teaching something that the students or the people don't know
   how to do, I can show them," she says.
   Davis has been a fixture in Riley's life since she was a year old, and
   whether they are outside throwing a football or inside watching
   television, it's a relationship marked by deep affection. Asked to
   describe Riley, the words roll off Davis's tongue. "Oh, man. Energetic,
   super smart, gorgeous, intelligent, very, very articulate. Like she's
   pretty much like the ideal daughter."
   Both also share another trait -- competitiveness. Riley, according to
   Davis, will push him to come up with new and more challenging exercise
   routines, and when a basketball or football comes out, it's always a
   competition to see who can make the most shots or catch the most
   passes.

   "If there's anything competitive, she's with it," Davis says.
   And that's just perfect for Davis, who took a roundabout path to
   teaching, after first pursuing a career in football. A D.C. native, he
   left Washington after high school for Averett University in Danville,
   Virginia, where he played four years of football. He ended his career
   as team captain, and inscribed his name in the school's records as one
   of its most productive running backs.

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