Gainesville Florida’s Team Impact Girls’ Basketball

Gainesville Florida’s Team Impact Girls’ Basketball

by | Aug 19, 2019 | Girls Basketball

Gainesville’s own Team Impact girls’ basketball program is giving talented female students the opportunity to play competitive basketball regardless of their family’s ability to pay large player fees. According to Chris Fischer, head coach of Team Impact 2025, Team Impact is a non-profit established in 2016 with the intent of providing local girl basketball players with the opportunity to play in front of college coaches, greatly enhancing their chances of earning a scholarship. It is their mission to ensure that any child with the talent and desire to play is able to do so, Fischer said.

What has Team Impact Accomplished?

After its inaugural season in 2017, it was clear that the Team Impact girls’ basketball program was not only beneficial for families with talented students, but it was also successful. Since 2017, Team Impact has collectively racked up five state championships and one national championship in just three seasons, according to Fischer.

Each Team Impact team consists of girls in the same grade. The team names refer to the year that the girls on each team will graduate. For example, the sixth-grade team name is Team Impact 2025. In fact, Team Impact 2025 was responsible for three of the state championships and the one national championship that the Team Impact program has to its name.

From a parent’s perspective:

Jenny Baker, mom to 12-year-old Delaney Baker on Team Impact 2025, can’t say enough about how happy she is to be a part of the Team Impact program as a parent. Even though she has to drive Delaney and her friend 35 minutes to practice, she said it is definitely worth it.

“It’s amazing, and the parents are great,” Jenny said. “All of the players have a very unique connection on and off the court. It’s neat to watch them.”

Jenny believes that Team Impact is shaping Delaney to do big things in the future. According to Delaney, it is her goal to continue playing basketball into her college years.

“Being a part of the Team Impact organization has positively impacted the basketball skill development of our girls, enabling them to become the standouts on their middle and high school teams,” Fischer said. “Beyond basketball, they are exposed to experiences that they might not otherwise have such as traveling to other states and making lasting friendships with girls they would have otherwise likely never known.”

The Team Impact girls’ basketball program is a subsidiary of Scholastic Sports, Inc. In addition to player fees and fundraisers, it depends on the generosity of the people in the community to fund the program.

by Amanda Roland at GiggleMagazine.com

Gainesville Traveling Youth Basketball Team Wins Big Again

by | Jul 12, 2017 | Youth Basketball

Scholastic Sports Inc. — Team Impact held its inaugural season this year with many successes.

The goals of the organization are skilled development, character building, unity and fun, and the group did just that and brought home hardware to place in the trophy cases. All three of the teams — 5th-, 7th- and 8th-grade girls — had an awesome year.

Under the leadership of head coach Gene Scott and assistant coaches Rob Cox, Mark McGraw and Amy Mickle, the 8th-grade girls won first place in three of seven tournaments. They were the North Atlanta Invitational in Atlanta, Jacksonville Magic May Madness in Jacksonville, and the USSSA Florida State Tournament in Ft. Myers. The team won second place in the Super 60 Allstate Super Bowl in New Orleans and the Queen of Hearts in Ft. Lauderdale.

And, in 2015 and 2016, the same team won the Florida USSSA State tournament.

The 7th-grade team won the Florida USSSA State in mid-June by beating the powerhouse Florida Future 49-47 in a nail biter. Additionally, the young ladies have a runner-up trophy in the Queen of Hearts Tournament. The 7th-grade team was led by head coach Taylor Vinson and assistant coach Jevon Saunders. The team was comprised of 6th- and 7th-graders and a lot of them were first-year players.

The youngest team, the 5th-grade team, was as competitive as the others. Because of the team’s willingness to work hard and never give up, the team was able to bring home three runner-up trophies from the Queen of Hearts Tournment, Jacksonville Magic May Madness, and the Florida AAU State in Tavares, and they qualified for the National AAU tournament in Ohio.

And, on June 30, the 5th-grade girls traveled to Orlando to participate in the National USSSA tournament, where they finished as runner-ups. Those providing instruction and training are head coach Michael Cunningham and assistant coaches Craig Bost and Chris Fischer. The team members are all first-time participants.

For girls in third- through ninth-grade interested in participating in the program, call President Willie Wimbley at 901-590-8262 or Coach Scott at 352-284-2319.

Article is from the Gainesville Sun on Gainesville.com