DRU JOYCE NAMED AAU LAKE ERIE BASKETBALL DIRECTOR

Cleveland, Ohio  – Dru Joyce II, St. Vincent St. Mary's Men's Basketball Head Coach and founder of the Northeast Ohio Basketball Association & King James Shooting Stars, has been named the AAU Lake Erie District Director of Boys & Girls Basketball.

“I'm excited to continue to be involved with AAU. We look forward to bringing AAU Boys & Girls basketball back to the prominence it once knew in NE Ohio,” said Joyce. "We want today's youth basketball players to enjoy the life-changing fun of the AAU experience that I enjoyed with LeBron James and my son and their friends as they grew up.”

Joyce has extensive experience on the Ohio basketball scene. His most notable player was Cleveland Cavaliers star and Ohio native LeBron James who wrote the forward to Joyce’s recently published book Beyond Championships: A Playbook for Winning at Life. In it, he shares his passion and commitment to those student-athletes he has worked with over the years.

“I am very pleased to have Dru Joyce as the newly elected District Director for AAU Boys and AAU Girls in Northeastern Ohio. Dru is best known for his coaching prowess but is highly touted for his overall development of student athletes,” said AAU President/CEO Dr. Roger Goudy.

Joyce is hard at work building a team with that same vision working with some of the top AAU basketball programs in Northeast Ohio.

“I'm thrilled to add Dru Joyce to the AAU team. His experience and leadership will mold the skills and character of young student athletes that will last a lifetime and produce upstanding citizens for our community, said Lake Erie AAU Governor Albert Gates.

“Dru shared his vision the summer of 2014 and I immediately committed my help and the DG Warriors program to him and AAU,” says DG Warriors Basketball Director Bob Fruchter.

Fruchter continues, “I started our program six years ago by first taking my son's 8th grade basketball team to Disney for AAU Nationals. You can't put a price tag on the great time and memories I shared with my son and his teammates. Since that experience DG Warriors has sent teams yearly to AAU Nationals.”

Others that have joined Joyce’s team include: The National Basketball Academy (tNBA) Steve Vega (Boys) and Kevin McNamara (Girls), and Sonny Johnson, Garfield Hts. High School Men's Varsity Basketball Head Coach.

“The long term goal is to bring AAU National Championship tournaments to NE Ohio. The pie- in-the-sky dream is to have an 8 court crown jewel facility that would serve as AAU's NE Ohio home,” said Joyce.

Boys and Girls clubs in the AAU Basketball program that participate in their District tournament are eligible to go to the National tournament. The 2015 Lake Erie Basketball District Tournament will take place the weekend of May 29-31. Quality venues will be in the Greater Akron area. For more info on the event, email: coachdru@neobasketball.com