One summer when I was in junior high I decided I should go to basketball camp. The camp was for girls in my district but because I didn’t go to public school I didn’t know even one girl. I just played basketball but didn’t really talk to anyone until a young coach started talking to me and got me involved with the social aspect of the five-day camp. I knew right then that this coach was special but I was unaware of the impact she would have on many other girls from then on.

Dana Leonard, 30, was a star basketball player in the northern suburbs of Chicago. Since she was a very little girl she has loved playing basketball. Her dad was a coach at a local high school and she used to go watch him coach as a youngster. She went onto play at a Division 1 college and major in Communications. While she was in high school and college she helped run clinics. She originally thought she would go into sports marketing or be a sports agent. However, her love for coaching was too strong and she started coaching leagues and travel teams as well as running clinics all year round.

She runs clinics for girls in grammar school through high school. It doesn’t matter what age these girls are, she has their attention as soon as they are on the court. If you were to walk into one of Leonard’s clinics you would see a bunch of girls staring at and admiring her. Being a coach and being a role model are synonymous and it is clear that Leonard takes that very seriously with her teams.

For about the past four years Leonard has been running her programs with the help of Joy of the Game in Deerfield, IL. Hundreds of girls have gone through her program and have gone onto to be stars at their high schools. She also has some of her high school player’s help out with her younger leagues. Not only is she helping teach young girls to be players, she is giving these girls the skills to become great coaches. Women’s basketball is only growing and with the help of people like Leonard the possibilities are endless for these rising stars.

-Dana Fine