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If imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, the Connecticut Starters AAU girls basketball program should consider itself complimented. When Lyman Hall girls coach Nick Economopoulos, his assistant, Joe Ticotsky, and Bill Raber of Rockville took over the financially strapped Connecticut Tudryn's AAU girls hoop program in 1988, it was the only such program in the state. This year, there are nearly 20 AAU programs in Connecticut, some with a full gamut of teams and some with only one or two.
"We were the only game in town back then," Economopoulos said. "Now everybody has one."
The number of programs is not the only thing that has grown over the past decade. The Starters have kept pace with the boom in girls basketball and are still the state's premier AAU program with 21 teams competing on the state, regional and national level. That growth did not come easily, however. Organizers spent that first year looking unsuccessfully for a corporate sponsor, something needed to put the program on solid financial footing
The teams could have been called the "Sting" or "Hustlers" if Paul Newman had signed on to back the program, but the actor's Newman's Own company ultimately decided to concentrate all its charitable efforts on the Hole-in-the-Wall Camp for terminally ill children. Lady Clairol in Greenwich also declined, and the future looked bleak for the struggling program.
Enter Marty Rubin, a friend of Economopoulos' from Wallingford. He suggested that Economopoulos contact David Beckerman, a "basketball nut" who just happened to double as the CEO of Starter Sports-wear in New Haven. "just get me in the door," Economopoulos pleaded.
Rubin arranged a meeting. Economopoulos prepared an elaborate presentation, but he could have saved his time. "I was 45 seconds into my presentation when he reached over and shut the book," Economopoulos recalled.
"You just tell me what you're looking for, and I'll tell you yes or no," Beckerman told the eager coach.
"He wound up making a hearty donation, not in cash, but in merchandise," Economopoulos said. "We were able to outfit our teams and raise money by selling Starter shirts and other stuff. That put AAU basketball on the map in Connecticut."
It also put the state on equal footing with many other AAU programs from across the nation. During that one year before Beckerman came through with his donation of some $50,000 in goods, the new directors discovered that Connecticut was far behind the rest of the country.
"All the big teams were sponsored," Economopoulos said. "Domino's sponsored the team from Louisiana, and McKay's Trucking sponsored the team from Ohio. We were just a fly-by-night until Starter gave us credibility."
The gap between Connecticut and other programs was not only financial, however. On the court, the Connecticut teams were way behind their counterparts from other states.
"We went to scrimmage a team in New York that first year and the coach asked how many games we had played," Ticotsky said. "When I told her it was our first scrimmage, she was shocked. They had already played 20 games."
Starters teams will not be caught that position again. Most of the program's teams were in action last weekend at regional invitationals up and down the East Coast in preparation for this summer's national championships.
Nearly 500 girls from 10 to 17 years old vied for spots on the rosters of the 21 Starter teams. The high school age teams were picked in November, before the start of the scholastic season; the younger players tried out earlier this spring.
"Once the high school season ends we start practicing for the championship games," Ticotsky said. "The (AAU) calendar his been pushed up so much that if we waited for the high school season to end, the older kids would never have time to get organized."
The Starters have not yet won a national championship. Those do not come easily; fields for the tournaments range upward of 70 teams.
The Starters have won five medals that were awarded for top-eight finishes over the past decade. Its top finish nationally was a fifth-place finish, which came from the 17-year-old team that was led by New England Blizzard and ex UConn star Jen Rizzotti.
Rizzotti is but one of several Connecticut stars who played for the Starters. Its graduates include UConn All-American Nykesha Sales and teammate Marci Glenney, Providence stars Tracy Lis and Jen Gombotz of Southington, and Nadine Domond, the Iowa star who signed a pro contract with the WNBA this week.
"Every member of our 16- and 17-year-old teams have gotten free rides to college," Economopoulos said. "And it's been that way for the last three years."
The 21 teams are coached by certified coaches. The list includes Sheehan's Art Knapp, Cromwell's Dean Mauro, Cheshire's Ticotsky and Economopoulos, who is the head coach at East Catholic in Manchester. The head coaches are paid $1,200 plus $300 for expenses, and the 21 assistant coaches are paid $900.
"Some of the coaches like it better than coaching high school." Ticotsky said. "You get to travel a little bit and you have twice as many games as you have practices. It's like a talented and gifted program for basketball."
While the national tournaments supply the highlights, the Starters girls program goes a lot deeper than fielding strong teams. It runs a Sunday morning fall league, shooting clinics with renowned clinician Dave Hopla, a summer overnight camp at Mitchell College, and a "top 100" clinic that offers the top players two days of exposure to college coaches.
"We have a lot of stuff under the Starter umbrella," Ticotsky said.
The growth of the girls program required the Starters to create a similar program for boys. Platt coach Gervais Barger is one of the co-directors for the boys program, and he serves with Economopoulos and Ticotsky as directors of the summer camp, which is a separate corporate entity and the program's only for-profit venture.
Money left over from the other aspects of the program goes into a special fund, which the directors hope will finance a basketball center in Wallingford some day. Economopoulos, Ticotsky and New Britain's Chris Ryba, who replaced Raber, have plans for the center, which would include four basketball courts plus office space, locker rooms and showers.
"We don't have the capital yet, but we've looked at three land sites in Wallingford," Economopoulos said. "I'm just nervous that somebody will beat us to it."
In addition to its on-the-court activities, the Starters conduct a weekly girls basketball coaches poll and select an all-state team at the end of the high school season. It has a web site that can be accessed at www.ct-starters.org.
"We do a lot of that to promote girls basketball," Ticotsky said. "There's a lot of interest in our sport. Right now it's riding a wave of popularity."
And no one is riding any higher than the Connecticut Starters.