WHERE ARE THEY NOW? A LOOK AT OUR CAMP ALUMNI


WHERE ARE THEY NOW 

Over the past 19 years, in excess of 110,200 high school aged female-athletes have participated in our camps. Many, from the early years, are now returning as coaches, officials, and just recently as parents of current participants. We have come full cycle. 

It would be impossible to list the accomplishments of our many alumni; but a few need to be recognized. Daniele Adams of Lee’s Summit High School; along with Ashlee Barrett of Incarnate Word Academy; were co-MVP’s of our camp in 2006 (IWA won the championship battle between the two by three points). Barrett went on to star at the University of Evansville and the University of Toledo. Adams found collegiate success at first Jefferson Community College, before transferring to Texas AM, where in2011, she led the Aggies to the NCAA National Championship. Adams currently stars for the San Antonio Silver Stars in the WNBA. Other top flight players from the powerhouse Incarnate Word program, who have won honors at our camp, include 2006 grads Felicia Chester and Rachel Pierson. They teamed up again on the collegiate level to lead the DePaul Blue Demons. Chester currently plays professionally for the Minnesota Lynx of the WNBA. 
Many others have gone on to play collegiate basketball at the nation’s highest level. Kathleen Sheer of New Haven, who made both our volleyball and basketball All Camp teams, had a very successful basketball career at Duke University, playing on several top 10 ranked teams. Eziamaka Okafor, a 2002 graduate of Rolla High School, also earned honors on both our volleyball and basketball all-camp teams; played on a final four squad at Stanford University. Eziamaka has two sisters who also played for Rolla Bulldog Head Coach Sam Potter, before moving on to Division 1 Basketball programs where both had stellar careers. Chinenye Okafor was a two time captain of the women’s basketball team at Yale University and Obiageli Okafor twice led the Tennessee State Tigers in scoring. 
Brittany Borman of Festus High School made our All-Camp Basketball team in 2004. While representing the University of Oklahoma in 2012, she won the NCAA national title in the Javelin. Later the same summer, she surprised the Track and Field world by claiming the Javelin gold medal at the Olympic Trials, earning the right to represent her country in the 2012 London Olympic Games. 
Several former standouts have moved into the coaching ranks. Leslie Howard was an all-camp selection representing Salem High School, from where she graduated in 2003. She had an outstanding collegiate career, first at the University of Colorado and then as a member of some very successful Razorback teams at the University of Arkansas. After completing her playing career, Howard broke into the college coaching ranks; first, as a Grad Assistant for Arkansas and then as an assistant coach at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. 
Hayley Leake of Silex, won MVP honors at our basketball camp in 2003. She later reunited with her high school coach, Tony Francis, at St. Louis University. Coach Francis currently heads the Women’s program at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, MO. After a four year stint as the starting point guard for the Billikens, Leake spent three years as an assistant coach at St. Louis’ Washington University. During her tenure there, the 
Bears captured a Division III National Championship. Leake spent one season, 2011-2012, as the head coach of the Timberland Wolves in Wentzville, MO, before accepting her current position as an assistant coach for the Division I program at Virginia Commonwealth University. Before VCU, Leake taught high school English for four years, after receiving her degree from SLU with a double major in English and Education. She is still undecided as to what route, high school or college, her future career will follow, but she states emphatically that it will involve coaching basketball. 
Erin Pauk of St. Charles Lutheran High School starred in our 2002 camp. Later that year, she led her Mike Holtmeier coached team to a second place finish at the state tournament, capping a 30-2 season. Ten years later, she would return in a new role to finish the job. After high school, Pauk began her collegiate career on the Division1 level, first at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and after a one year transfer red shirt season, played her last three years of eligibility at Southern Illinois – Carbondale. Pauk immediately jumped right into the high school coaching fires, returning to her own high school, taking over from her mentor, Holtmeier, as the Cougars’ head coach. Pauk describes her return to her alma mater, to lead the program when only a few years removed as a player, as a seamless transfer, made easier by the very nurturing environment of her school. In 2013, she led LSC back to Columbia, MO and the state final four, just as she had ten years prior as a player, but this time came home with the top trophy by knocking off Cameron in last March’s Class 3 State Championship game. Pauk was named both State Coach of the Year and St. Louis Metro Area Coach of the Year. 
Many of the young ladies who have passed through our camp doors, over the past twenty years, are now the up and coming leaders of the next generation. Hopefully, over the years, they have held on to their Licking Summer Camp Tee Shirts, for when looking at the end result of the big picture, the futures of the young female athletes who attend our camps are what we are all about. 

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