The Connecticut Starters Basketball Club has just finished our 21^st season and we continue to be one of the most successful and highly respected girls' basketball programs in the country. Our club is a member of the state and national Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) and participates in sanctioned tournaments at the state, regional and national levels.

This past spring and summer, our girls' travel teams played a total of nearly 250 games including games in Orlando, Washington DC, Virginia Beach and Montreal!

This highlight of the past season for our club was having our 14's win the AAU Division II National Championship in Hampton, VA! With a total of just 8 players, they defeated 41 other teams en route to the National D2 title, the 2nd for the Starters in club history (in 1997, the Starters 14 West team won the NIC-National Invitational Championship, the forerunner to the D2 National Tournament). Congratulations to head coach Vinnie Cianfarani, assistant Colleen Smith and all of the members of our 14 Red team.

Another highlight of the past season for our club was our 16 Red team winning a bronze medal at the state AAU tournament and then playing at their age group's division I National Tournament at Disney's Wide World of Sports in Orlando. The 11 Red team played in the Division II National Tournament, right in New Haven.

Once again, many of our teams participated in a variety of prestigious tournaments, from the aforementioned AAU National tournaments and Blue Chip-Penn State tournament to the US Junior Nationals in Washington, DC and the Quebec Fall Basketball Festival just outside of Montreal

Alumnae

Over the past 21 years, many of our alumnae have played professionally and overseas. Three of our more famous "former Starters" are Nykesha Sales, Jennifer Rizzotti and Maria Conlon. This season, over 40 former CT Starters players will be playing college basketball, and over 15 former Starters players or coaches will be coaching college basketball. Numerous others will be coaching at high schools throughout the Northeast.

In August '97 our website (www.ct-starters.org) was launched. Since then, we have averaged over 1.5 million hits yearly, including visitors from Switzerland, Malaysia and Finland! Hundreds of people check it daily for news of our programs and to follow friends and family members playing on our teams. Webmaster Dennis Vincent keeps everyone updated at www.ctstarters.org, one of the top AAU Girls Basketball websites in the country.

Starter's AAU travel teams, summer camps, Dave Hopla shooting camps, College Showcases and Fall Leagues provide year-round basketball competition and instruction to over 1,000 girls from throughout New England. Club Directors Nick Economopoulos, Joe Ticotsky and Chris Ryba wish to extend their thanks to everyone involved for their continued support of