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About the
Director
Leo Maloney
is entering his 16th year as Director of the Lady
Gators, and is returning to the sidelines after a 5-year
hiatus. He
has watched the organization grow to be one of the most
well known and respected AAU organizations in the
Northeast. The Lady Gators host 4 of the top and best
organized Girl's AAU tournaments in the country, with
over 500 teams participating each year from the US and
Canada.
The tournaments are held in 4 different locations in
Massachusetts, and are hosted by several Division II and
III College venues. Most of the venues are
multiple-court sites, and several are air conditioned.
This year will be the 13th annual Shootout Classic,
10th annual Spring Fling, 5th Annual Spring Challenge,
and 3rd annual College Showcase.
In it's first 3 years, the "Lady Gators College
Showcase" has grown from 23 teams participating and 13
college coaches attending, to 48 teams and 34 college coaches. Our
plans are to have the "Showcase" max out with 88 of the
top 15U-17U Teams in the region participating. We hold
this tournament to showcase the talent of girls who want
to play in Division II or III colleges, and expect to
have over 100 college coaches in attendance within a few
years as the reputation of the tournament spreads.
Coach Palizza joined the
Lady Gators staff in 2001. At that time he took over a
struggling 14U team. Three years later, as 16U's, the
team finished with a 35-9 record. Six members of that
team went on to play college basketball and are just
finishing their freshman year.
Coach Palizza has extensive
experience as a basketball coach. He has spent a year as
an assistant coach at Roger Williams University, 4 years
as a high school assistant coach, 8 years as a high
school head coach, and 13 years as an AAU head coach.
In 1996, Coach Palizza
founded a 14U team called the Rhode Island Rebels (no
connection to the RI Rebels that exist today). Three
years later, as a 16U team, the Rebels were 32-12
playing at an elite level up and down the East coast.
They went 9-3 in two trips to the Blue Chip Tournament
in Philadelphia and also went to the Junior Nationals.
Nine of the 10 girls on the team went on to play college
basketball (4 Div I, 4 Div II, and 1 Junior College).
Four of the 5 members of the 1999 Rhode Island All-State
team were Rebels. All in all, Coach Palizza has worked
with approximately 26 girls in the 14-16 age bracket in
AAU, of which 15 have gone on to play college
basketball.
Coach Palizza's 14U team finished 15-17 in 2007.
Although the team went 0 for their last 11 games, they
stepped up their level of competition and all but one of
the losses was close and competitive. A couple of
"highlights" of the season were losing by 11 to the CT
Shamrocks National Team and by 5 to the CT Storm
National Team. The team's last 3 tournaments were the
Saratoga Sparks, the Lady Gators College Showcase, and
the Liberty Belles Shootout - 3 very strong tournaments.
The team's inexperience at that level was their
disadvantage this year, but is not expected to be a
problem next year. If everybody comes back and one
more "big" girl can be recruited, Coach Palizza predicts
they'll beat 7-8 of the teams they lost to.
Tryouts for the 2008 season have not been set yet,
but if any 5'10" girls are interested in joining the
team, please email me.
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