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We have concluded a very successful 2005 AAU year with 3 of our
teams making their trips to Nationals in July.
First, the SPARKS 13's
competed successfully in Kansas City beginning July 8 and played
teams from North Carolina, Wisconsin, Missouri, PA (playing
Fencor again and beat them again out at Nationals!) Indiana and
Maryland. Congratulations to Coach Greta Neff and the girls for
a great season! Most of these girls experienced Nationals last
year (2004) for the first time and dedicated their season to get
back in the big arena and they did it! Many of them will be
moving on to high school next year and we look forward to seeing
them compete at area high schools. We also look forward to
seeing them play with us next year and earn a chance to get to
AAU Nationals in Disney. Good Luck girls!
Next, the Mid Atlantic Champion SPARKS 11's
went to Nashville beginning July 15 and did very well, winning
their opening pool (going 3-0) and took their first game in the
Championship Round. In a tough draw, they next faced the North
Carolina Comets and lost a close game to this team. The NC
Comets team eventually won the Tournament and we gave them one
of their best games- they had been blowing out everyone they had
faced! Our girls proved that they are a force to be reckoned
with in the years to come! The girls also played teams from
Louisiana, Tennessee, and two from Maryland. Congratulations to
Coaches Mike Homyak, Tim Govan and Sheila Amodei and all the
girls for a wonderful season. I believe their final 2005 AAU
record was 40-6.
Finally, the SPARKS 15's
went to Orlando and competed at AAU National Headquarters at the
Disney Wide World of Sports Complex. Getting a chance to play in
front of almost 400 Division I, II and III college coaches and
scouts was an awesome experience for these girls! They played
teams from Indiana, Maryland, Western PA, Georgia and South
Carolina. We have received several inquiries about SPARKS
players from college programs as a result. You never know who's
watching you down there! The girls had an opportunity to see
Coach Pat Summit of University of Tennessee fame attend a game
before ours at the main Disney MilkHouse Sports Complex. The
competition was fantastic and the experience was awesome at
Disney. Congratulations to Coach Mary Ann Keenan and the girls
for a super season- what a way to wrap it up!
Girls ages 14-19 receive an opportunity to attend Nationals at
Disney. We can report to the Club that THIS IS THE EVENT OF THE
BASKETBALL YEAR that we should be pointing to for our older
girls. No other Basketball Showcase Tournament can compare to
it. Yes, we will be entering the older girls in many of the
local and regional college showcase events in the future, but
pound for pound, Nationals at Disney attracts significant
college attention and we will continue to point our efforts to
qualifying successfully in the Mid Atlantic Tournament so that
we can get these teams to Nationals in the future.
These teams collectively raised over $10,000 to help pay for the
cost of their trips to Nationals. The girls are to be commended
for their determination to not let the cost of their
participation at Nationals fall entirely on their parents. In
particular, we would like to thank the WAWA corporation for
their support of our fundraising efforts and hope that Sparks
families will patronize the various WAWA stores throughout
Chester County. We also received significant contributions from
Kelly's Sports, And One and Sunrise Assisted Living and again-
your patronage of these organizations would be appreciated.
In closing, we want to thank everyone for making this our best
year yet. Everyone's hard work and dedication to basketball
excellence is helping us grow stronger each year and our coaches
feel that we our now unquestionably the premier AAU girls
basketball organization in the Western Suburbs of Philly.
Believe it or not, we will begin planning shortly for the 2006
Season. We will continue to seek to attract the best players for
your daughters to play with for next season. We hope to hold
some open gyms and Skills Nights in the Fall to get the girls
ready for their School Seasons and we will be planning early to
get one or two Sparks AAU Tournaments off the ground for next
season.
See you on the courts!
Yours in basketball,
Bob Burg
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