San Diego Sol Basketball Club

Who We Are

 

The Coaches 2006


We have current and former high school, college and semi-pro coaches in our club. Two of the coaches played professional basketball in Europe. All of the coaches played either high school, college or professional sports.

We provide quality training opportunities for players to improve their basketball skills and help empower them to use the lessons they've learned on the court to their everyday lives. The coaches emphasize the principles of discipline, perseverance, teamwork and the pursuit of excellence.

All of the coaches have the same philosophy. We believe that correct fundamentals lead to proper execution on the court. If you are taught correctly from the beginning, playing basketball can be fun and easy to learn... AND to master.

Click here to read a newspaper article about 2 of the coaches who
played professional basketball in Europe.

Tony Allen:
Club Founder & President

Tony was the coach of the original San Diego Sol women's basketball team which compiled a win-loss record of 28-3 in the 1997-98 season, including a re-match win against the Chinese Jr. National Team.  This Sol team was also the 1997 NWBL Regional Champion and National Runner Up.

He has been a personal and sports fitness trainer and coach for 19 years. His clients and teams have won numerous awards, titles and championships at every level from recreational to the professional.

Denise Bennett:

Denise graduated from Santana High School where she led her team to two CIF championships and two league championships.  She also earned her team’s MVP award for 2 consecutive years. 

Denise played collegiate basketball at Cuyamaca where she earned First Team All League and was voted her team’s Defensive Player of the Year. She later transferred to Grossmont College and was again selected to All League honors. 

Most recently she was the assistant coach for an 8th grade traveling basketball team that is currently ranked 12th in California.

Amy Cleveland:
Club Director

Amy was an original member of the Sol women's basketball team. She played professionally in Germany for two seasons and was the conference's 3rd leading scorer one of those seasons.

Amy currently coached her Sol Senior Women's team to the Gold Medal at the Senior National Games in Pittsburgh, PA, June 2005. She also coached a 17u and a 15u youth team while playing in Germany.

Amy set 21 individual records, including the career scoring record, while playing basketball at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California. She earned SCIAC Conference honors all four years of her career as well as All American Honors her senior season.

Brandi Collato:

Brandi graduated from Santa Fe Christian High School where she led her team to two CIF Championships, a So Cal Regional Championship, and a trip to the State Finals.  She was named the Union Tribune Player of the Year, hit 49 consecutive free throws (1 shy of the national record), and ended her high school career in 2001 with 3,325 career points and the San Diego County scoring record until it was broken in 2004. 

Brandi continued her playing career at the University of San Diego as a 3-point shooting specialist.  She graduated with a Bachelor in Business Administration and is currently completing her Masters in School Counseling. 

Brandi coached both youth and high school club teams in the San Diego area before joining Sol.

Susie Erpelding:

Susie played professional basketball in Germany where she was one of the top scorers in her league. She also coached a 16u team in Germany to a 19-1 record.

She played at USD where she earned West Coast Conference Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2000. She was named to the All WCC Team in '98, '99 and '00. She was a GTE Academic All American in '99 and '00. She captained her team to the WCC Tournament Championship in '00. She also had time to graduate magna cum laude with a BA in Sociology and earn her masters in Counseling.

Susie set all the records at the Academy of Our Lady of Peace High School where her basketball jersey number is retired and hanging in the rafters.

Jennie Harris:

Jennie Harris was an original member of the Sol women's basketball team. Jennie earned a scholarship to Christian Heritage College to play both volleyball and basketball. 

Jennie captained her collegiate volleyball team to the National Championship her junior year.  She was also a four year captain for her basketball team.  During her senior year she led the nation in rebounds, averaging 18 per game.

She graduated from CHC in 1999, receiving a degree in Liberal Studies with an emphasis in Elementary Education.

Spatticus Harris:

"As ancient legend foretold the prophecy of one coming down from the great white north of Toronto, Canada to the sunny west coast of San Diego.

Spatticus...meant to be Spartacus thawed himself out and played 4 years at Christian Heritage College leading the Hawks to 2 National Championships (NCCAA).  He would graduate with a degree in kinesiology all the while becoming 1st team All American.

He's now an assistant at Christian Heritage College with the woman's program. Spatticus is married to one of Sol's finest "Jennie Harris" with a 2 year old daughter (Mazatlan) and baby boy Kalel whom is expected to take basketball to new heights"...composed by Spatticus Harris.

Kate Hawrylo:

Kate currently coaches the Junior Varsity and Middle School basketball teams at Francis Parker School. She is also the assistant coach for the Varsity basketball program.

Before coaching at Francis Parker she was a 3 year Varsity basketball player at Parker. During her athletic career she earned an amazing 7 Most Inspirational Awards.

Kate earned her AA in Philosophy.  She is currently attending National University to receive her teaching credential.

 

Judy Malone:

Coach Malone recently retired after 29 years as Head Women's Basketball Coach at UCSD.  After helping to start the Womens program as a student at UCSD, she led the program to numerous NCAA Tournament appearances, including a stretch of five out of six years at the NCAA Division III level prior to moving to the Division II level in 2000-01 season.  It didn't take long to make her mark at the Division II level as she led the Tritons to an NCAA Division II Tournament berth in only their third year in D II, even though UCSD was the only Division II school in the country that did not offer athletic scholarships.  She finished her career with over 400 wins, ranking her in the top 20 of Division II coaches in the country.
 
As a player, Coach Malone led the Tritons in scoring in each of her three seasons, and still holds the UCSD  top two scoring averages with 21.6 and 25 points per game.  She continued to play basketball until a recent knee surgery, helping her Senior team to two gold medals at the Senior Olympics in 2001 and 2003.

 

Tammie McQuain:

Tammie was team captain while playing collegiate basketball at Western Nebraska. She led her nationally ranked team to two division championships. She was voted All Conference and was one of the top league leaders in both scoring and rebounding. She finished her collegiate career at Chapman University.


Tammie was the only female invited to play against the "And 1 Mix Tour" team when they visited San Diego in 2004. She was aired on ESPN stealing the ball from their #1 star, "Hot Sauce." In 2005, she was invited back again.

Tammie coached at Costa Mesa High School as well as other club programs in the Southern California area. Currently Tammie is the CFO at a Financial Planning firm in La Jolla.

Lindsey Peavey:

Lindsey currently is the head Junior Varsity coach and assistant Varsity coach for Christian High School's girls basketball program.

Lindsey played two seasons for Longwood College, VA. Her junior year she transferred to the Univ. of Miami and played for the Hurricanes. 


During Lindsey's senior year, she studied abroad and played for
James Cook University in Townsville, Australia. Her team placed sixth in the country at the 2001 University Games.

Lindsey graduated from high school in New York where she earned All-league, Defensive Player of the Year and Section III Female Scholar Athlete. She was recently inducted into her high school's hall of fame.