TN STARS 13-U GIRLS BASKETBALL

 

THE COACHES

 

Grant Shanks is beginning his 6^th season as an AAU coach.  He began in 1999 as the coach of an 11-U team and moved up in age group with those players through 2001 at 13-U.  In that time, his teams won several local and regional tournaments.  2004 will be Grant’s 3^rd season with 1990-born players.  After lots of hard work with the team as 11-U in 2002, the team broke through as 12-U in 2003 advancing to the AAU National Tournament in Lafayette, LA.  There the team represented Tennessee well, staying in the tournament longer than any other Tennessee representative. 

In addition to AAU, Grant has coached 4 seasons in the Knoxville Fall League at Karns High school, leading Jefferson Middle of Oak Ridge to the championship in 2000, coaching West Valley Middle in 2001, and the Farragut High School girls and Farragut Middle School boys in 2002.

 Grant’s playing experience consists of 4 seasons of high school basketball at McMinn Central High and 2 seasons as a practice player for the UT Lady Vols.  As a result of his experience with the Lady Vols, Grant has coached seven years of summer camps at UT, including the Elite Position Camp and Overnight Camp.  Additionally, he has served as a demonstrator at the adidas-WBCA Coaches’ Clinic, as a demonstrator at the Women’s 2001 Final Four, and coached at the prestigious Kay Yow Basketball Clinic at NC State. 

Grant worked for 2.5 years at Fort Sanders Health and Fitness Center as a premier athletic trainer and instructor in the School of Basketball.  There, he trained athletes and teams of all sports in aspects of Speed, Agility, and Quickness and has worked with the likes of Chamique Holdsclaw, Tamika Catchings, Sameka Randall, UT football players, and others.  Further, he made quite a name for himself as a private instructor, giving basketball lessons to players on all levels of competition. 

Currently, Grant is the managing partner of Promotions Plus – a Crossville, TN marketing firm.  Grant received his Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from UT in 1998 and his Master’s Degree in Sport Administration in 2000.

 

 

David Ball is beginning his 3^rd season of AAU coaching, and comes to the table well qualified.  He has coached with Grant and the 1990-born players all 3 of those years, bringing a great deal of consistency and familiarity to the table. 

David was a high school player at Farragut High and went on to be serve as a manager, practice player, and student assistant coach for the UT Lady Vols for four years.  He has coached 9 years of Lady Vol summer camps, including the Elite Position Camp and Overnight Camp.  He has also served on the camp staff at NC State University, David Lipscomb University, and worked for the UT men’s program.  Additionally, he has served as a demonstrator at the adidas-WBCA Coaches’ Clinic, as a demonstrator at the Women’s 2000 Final Four. 

David was a 4-year employee of Fort Sanders Health and Fitness Center as a premier athlete trainer and instructor in the School of Basketball.  While there, he trained over 350 athletes of all ages, abilities, and sports.  He worked with Bridgette Gordon, Chamique Holdsclaw, Tamika Catchings, Sameka Randall, Nikki McCray, European professional JB Reafsnyder, and others.  David also gave private lessons to players of all levels, including some very successful current college and high school players.  He also traveled to UNC-Asheville to work personally with the women’s basketball team there. 

David works with the AG Heins Company in Knoxville.  He is the associate varsity head coach and head jv coach with the boys team at Farragut High School. 

He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Sport Management from UT in 1996.  He lives in Knoxville, TN.   

 

 

THE TEAM

 

The TN Stars organization has been around for over 25 years and has won 11 AAU National Championships in that time.  This will be the only 13-U team playing under the TN Stars name this season.  It is the hope of the coaches that the team is as successful in terms of wins and losses as possible.  Our intention, always, is to advance to AAU National Tournament.  We will attempt to win games when they are winnable, i.e. playing time will not be equal.  More importantly, the goal of the team will be to provide sound instruction and competition in order to improve the individual skills of each player.  Thus, they will be better prepared when they try-out for their high school teams next year.  Our philosophy is that “the journey is more important than the destination”, and our emphasis will be on practice, repetition, and learning. 

 

AAU

 

The AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) is an organization designed to give youngsters the opportunity to compete in many different sports on a state and national basis.  Of all AAU sports, girls basketball has the highest number of participants!  AAU in Tennessee is generally very competitive, with several teams qualifying for the national tournament each year from many different age groups.  It is important to understand that AAU is not a recreational league.  There is no such thing as guaranteed playing time, trophies for fourth place, or the “mercy rule”.  If somebody can beat you by 40, they will. 

AAU is not for everybody.  It takes a tremendous amount of commitment from every player, parent, and coach.  There is a greater amount of travel, time, and expense than that which one might experience with a recreational league.  However, for the right type of player (and parents!), the rewards are tremendous.  The camaraderie, the opportunity to travel, to meet new people, to be surrounded by players that take the game as seriously as you do are all benefits of AAU.  My personal experience with AAU as a coach has been overwhelmingly positive and I recommend it highly to anyone who is serious about their basketball or to anyone who thinks they are.  Generally, AAU seems to serve as the proving ground for determining who continues in basketball and who pursues other interests. 

Some places to check out information on the AAU on-line are www.aausports.org, www.aaugirlsbasketball.org.  I encourage you to take a look around these sites, browse, and read the message boards.  I learned quite a bit just by reading what others had to say about AAU.  In the end, choosing to play AAU can be exceptionally rewarding if approached with as much advanced knowledge as possible!