Heart of Illinois

PROGRAM HISTORY Heart of Illinois Program started in 2009 to address the need for an AAU Program in the Central Illinois area. 2019 marks the 10th year of our program in the Central Illinois area. In that time we have been fortunate to have players in our program from more than 50 Central Illinois cities. In 9 years we have competed at the highest level of AAU/Exposure basketball with only Central Illinois players. We have competed to the point where we have placed in many top level national tournaments, including 2 AAU National Championships.

Our program may be 9 years old, but our coaching staff has been in the AAU/Exposure environment for almost 20 years and have helped Central Illinois players in the recruiting process realize their goals of playing college basketball at all levels including Division I on scholarship. We have numerous Alumni and long time former players that have achieved scholarships at all levels of college basketball. Our 17u Coach, ShaVonn Watkins, is one of our Alumni. We have built a system over the years that has proven to not only be successful for our athletes competing at the highest levels, but it has built lasting relationships among athletes, families, and contacts within the travel recruiting environment.

We are beyond excited to be chosen to share this Bluestar League opportunity with our Central Illinois girls basketball community and know this will be a game changer for our area athletes that before now were not available to any program in our area.

Coaches: ShaVonn Watkins & Malaika Williams

2019 Roster