The North Florida Elite program is now in its fourth year of competition, and the organization’s founders are really starting to see a return on all of their efforts.
“We were very, very happy with the way the summer went,” said Coach Eli Rosier. “I guess you would still call us an up-and-coming program, but we’ve come a long, long way. We really feel great about where the program is now. We started this to help kids, and especially to help them get into college.
“The first couple of years, we weren’t getting any phone calls from coaches. This year, the phone was blowing up. There has been a lot of hard work to get to this point, and we also feel blessed to have the help of the people at All Star Girls Report. Those folks, with their tournaments, have given our kids an awful lot of exposure.”
North Florida Elite will continue on the same path this fall at the All Star Girls Report sponsored Marietta Tournament of Champions. The event, which will be played from Sept. 25-27 at the Suwanee Sports Academy outside of Atlanta, Ga., will feature some of the nation’s finest travel squads.
North Florida Elite will be led in Marietta by Ariel Young (2018, 6-1, F), who is currently ranked as the No. 90 in her class nationally by ASGR.
“Ariel is a hard working player who really does it all,” Rosier said. “Defensively, she can guard any position, one through four. The biggest thing about Ariel is that she comes every day ready to play hard.”
The club will also bring a number of superbly talented youngsters, including Kyndal Thomas (2020, 5-7, G, No. 35), Jordan Rosier (2021, 5-6, G, No. 30, and the coach’s daughter) and Audia Young (2022, 5-7, 2G). Audia, who is Ariel’s younger sister, is not old enough to be in the ASGR rankings, but she has drawn plenty of attention this summer.
“Kyndal is a facilitator, and in my opinion she is one of the best eighth graders in the Southeast. She has a great basketball IQ and a great handle. She is an unselfish player, but she knows when to shoot,” Rosier said. “Jordan is a pure shooter — she’s ready to shoot as soon as she walks in the gym — and the rest up her game is coming along. Audia is going to be very, very good. I think she will end up being one of the best players in the nation. She is just a pit bull who is always competing.
“Our middle school team is very special. I could go on and on about the players on that team.”
