The 8th grade girls are doing something OTE has not seen before. They keep winning and winning and winning. This past weekend they competed in Waukegan at the Jr. Nationals and took home 1st place! This team has no fear and no quit in them. The work is not done for them, they have one more tournaments left this summer at the Nike Invitational July 19-22 and then they will start getting ready for high school! Keep up the amazing work, girls!
The 8th grade girls went 5 and 3, and a 5th place finish this past weekend in Ohio as the competed in the World Championship for AAU. Although I know the girls probably feel they could have won it all, this is the highest OTE has ever placed in Division ll AAU basketball!
Thanks to Coach Croix, Coach Justin, and Coach Marissa for leading the charge this past week. We are so lucky to have great coaches and people to be mentoring our girls.
The 8th grade girl's piggybacked last year's success as they took 3rd place in Washington DC at the US Jr. Nationals in 2023, by again, taking 3rd place at this USAB Open Bracket Championship held in Winston Salem, North Carolina this past weekend. The girls went 3-1 (only loss was to the eventual champion) as they competed against 16 teams from around the country.
Their next stop is the AAU World Championships 6/26 to 6/30 in Kings Island Ohio.
We are so proud of the girls and the way they represented themselves, our program, and Chicago! Congratulations, girls. GO EDGE!
WOW, what a weekend in Milwaukee for the girls, parents, and coaches! Congratulations to all of you and the girls. And thank you for making this a wonderful event. Teamwork makes a dream work! We don't have to dream any more, we are the 2023 USJN U13 Windy City Classic Champions! I am so proud of our coaches, Coach Croix, Coach Marissa, Coach Justin, and I want to thank them for giving their time and energy so this event could happen for our girls.
July 21-24 was a fantastic week for the 7th-grade girls. They competed at the USJN NATIONAL TOURNAMENT in Washington DC and did amazing! They captured 3RD PLACE in D-I. An outstanding accomplishment, led by Coach Croix, Justin, Marissa & Coach Keith. We are all so proud & very excited to see what they can do next year! Congratulations, Girls!
What a fantastic way to end the season. We ended up winning 9 medals, went 26 and 12 this last weekend between all of our teams, and we re-established our end of the season celebration at Great Wolf Lodge. Keith and I would like to thank you for all of your support this past session. It has been a difficult transition between losing Greg and Deb, who have been an integral part of the program for as long as I can remember, trying to get a high school program started and probably the most challenging is having our gym being sold this past week and looking for new places to call home. Our mission has always been to help the young athletes on our teams learn, grow and have fun together on and off the court, and we appreciate your help in making that happen. We are especially pleased to recognize the contributions of our 8th grade players as they prepare to enter high school. Many of these players have been with us for as many as five years, and it has been one of the great privileges of our coaching staff to help all of them grow into the student-athletes they are today. OTE would like to thank our USA Basketball gold certified coaches and administrative staff for their dedication to our players. Most of all, we want to thank you, our OTE family, for placing your trust in us. It is a privilege to play a meaningful role in the lives of your children. We will have more details shortly about our spring season, which begins next week. We hope to see you in the gym, and if not, we hope to see you at our summer clinics and camps and our tryouts for the fall-winter 2023-24 season in September.
OTE is proud to announce its latest championship team. The 7th grade girls team won the 2021 AAU state championship Division 1 by sweeping all four games it played May 1-2 in Rockford. Ill. The team is coached by Brandon Lathon and Shawn Cirton, and won each game by 10 or more points. The team prevailed by sharing the ball, playing tough team defense and winning the battle for loose balls and rebounds. Congrats to the girls!
Congrats to the OTE 7th grade girls, who finished 6th out of 34 teams in the National AAU championship in Knoxville, Tenn. The girls had a great run, losing by five points in the quarterfinals to the eventual AAU champs. The team was on fire all week, averaging 53 points a game -- one of the top-scoring teams in the tourney. Thanks to the players, parents and coach Croix for a terrific week of basketball! The OTE family is proud of all of you!
OTE 8th girls became National AAU champions this morning, July 17, 2017 in Orlando! We're so proud of our players -- Angelica, Illiana, Maeve, Charleen, Lily, Caroline, Nicole, Christi -- and coaches Keith and Jean. What a great run! Congrats!
Both the 8th-grade girls and 4th-grade boys continued on their respective rolls this past weekend with the girls going a perfect 5-0 and winning State the boys going 3-1 and coming in 2nd at the University of Illinois. The 8th grade girls, led by Coach Croix and Coach Keith, put on a fantastic performance and took home rings and medals for winning! The boys, led by Coach Eddie went 3-0 Saturday which got them into the championship game Sunday, where they fell to a very talented team from Park Forest. It was a hard-fought battle and the boys played their hearts out! Great job, boys! We will see them next year! Same place, same time! Congratulations Ladies! Keep up the amazing work!
For the second year in a row, the 8th-grade girls have qualified for the USJN Nationals in Washington DC! Led by Coaches Croix, Justin, Marissa, and Keith the girls had another remarkable showing this past weekend at Southland Center, Ho-Chunk Nation. They went a perfect 3-0 on Saturday to get them into the championship on Sunday, where they closed out their journey on the way to NATIONALS! Great job, Ladies! The job is not done yet!
Over the last 20 years, more than 90 percent of OTE alums have gone on to play high school hoops at major programs across Chicago and the suburbs. Our training works because we are "Over the Edge on fundamentals."