Next Level squads win tournament

SARASOTA — There’s rarely a day that goes by that 12-year-old Audra Leipold doesn’t have a basketball in her hands.

Whether it’s calling plays from the top of the key, dribbling to the lane or shooting from behind the arc, the Team Next point guard and shooting guard enjoys the thrill and excitement that comes from being on the court.

The Nolan Middle School sixth-grader practically grew up on the basketball court. Leipold started playing recreational basketball six years ago, and she hasn’t stopped dribbling the ball since.

“I like it, because it’s a fast-paced game, and you can get the ball a lot,” Leipold said. “I love the game, and playing with my teammates makes it even better.”

Looking to gain a competitive edge, Leipold, who has aspirations of playing high school basketball, recently joined the Next Level Hoops seventh-grade girls travel basketball team. It didn’t take long for Leipold and her teammates to gel. The team went undefeated to win the Suncoast Xplosion Shootout March 9 to 11, in Sarasota.

“I was very excited, because it was the first time we played together as a seventh-grade team,” Leipold said. “We have some new girls this year on the seventh-grade team. We worked hard and had been practicing many of the plays together with coach Tina (Hadley). We were practicing several days leading up to the tournament.

“Coach Tina helps direct us and pulls the strengths out of all the players,” she said. “I always want to go to practice, and I’m excited the travel season is just beginning.”

The seventh-grade travel team wasn’t the only team to enjoy success in its opening tournament. Next Level’s eighth-grade travel team also went undefeated to capture its first tournament championship of the travel ball season.

“I think the girls were successful because they are starting to understand that effort and intensity can overcome a lot of shortcomings,” coach Tina Hadley said. “The eighth-grade team has grown in the area of overcoming adversity, and they understand that they have to compete every game.”

Eighth-grade assistant coach Gabriella Diaz-Granados, who wrapped up her final season on the court at Lakewood earlier this year, agreed.

“I think we were successful because the team has very good chemistry and no matter what, the girls don’t give up,” Diaz-Granados said. “The girls came back from being down and fought to win at the buzzer by a layup.”

Hadley, who also coaches Lakewood Ranch High’s girls basketball team, started Next Level Hoops four years ago after receiving numerous requests for information about travel teams for girls. She officially formed her corporation last year; however, Next Level Hoops isn’t associated with Lakewood Ranch.

Initially, the organization was strictly for girls; but, Hadley has since expanded, opening opportunities for boys as well.

Although Hadley is pleased with her team’s early season success, her main focus is preparing her players to compete at the high school level.

“For the remainder of the basketball season my expectation is for them to become students of the game and learn to play a more disciplined basketball game,” Hadley said.

For more, visit www.eteamz.com/nextlevelhoops.

Contact Jen Blanco at [email protected].