VERO BEACH — Florida Comets Basketball is pleased to announce its board of directors for the 2011-2012 season. The board consists of:
President, Founder, Head Coach: Dr. Bennie Shaw
Chair: Gwyneth “Wyndi” Fournie,
Vice-Chair: Larry Hiegel
Treasurer: Kathy Minix
Secretary: Jane Ford
Sargeant of Arms: Joe Zerega
Financial Secretary: Dave Simigran
Murray Fournie: Basketball Operations
The Florida Comets founder and head coach is Dr. Bennie Shaw, an assistant principal at Sebastian River Middle School. Shaw, a former NBA player and Hall of fame recipient from UCF, started the program in 2005 in Titusville, Florida (then known as the Lady Comets) to help children in the community build confidence in life and gain access to a college education. In the 2009/2010 season the Florida Comets AAU Basketball grew from one team to six, and in the 2010/2011 season the league grew to 9 teams, involving boys and girls grades 5 through 9.
Focusing on helping kids “shoot for the stars”, the Florida Comets organization is proud of 13 student athletes receiving scholarships to college thus far. During the 2010-2011 season, the Florida Comets celebrated several capstone moments, such as the 9th grade boys reaching the “Final Four” and the 8th grade girls receiving 2 national titles back to back and members of the team received special honors such as Academic excellence and humanitarian awards along with being #1 ranked with YBOA.
Florida Comets are pleased to expand the league this season by adding an instructional division (grades 3, 4). This will complement the developmental (grades 5,6), the competitive (grades 7,8) and the elite level (grades 9 and up) where the students are exposed to colleges, coaches and scholarship opportunities. Players for the Florida Comets must meet the 3 A’s of being part of the league-Academics, Attitude and Athletic Ability.
A volunteer based, nonprofit 501c3 organization, Florida Comets basketball is dedicated to the advancement and development of youth through basketball to insure access to a college education.
“The Florida Comets is excited to add the instructional component to our league and welcome children grades 3 and up to come out to our Open Gyms and see what we have to offer,” said Dr. Shaw. “Our goal is that for each student who wishes to play Florida Comets basketball and has the Academics, Attitude and Athletic Ability that they be given the opportunity. While we work hard to keep our registration fees modest compared to other programs, it can be a significant sacrifice for many families. We need the sponsorships and support from our community to help cover items such as gym rentals, uniforms, basketballs, league registration fees and other program costs.”
For more information visit www.floridacomets.org.