Auto Park Sports Complex tabs Grindle to head up boys’ basketball operations

Courtesy of The Pilot News.

PLYMOUTH — Former Plymouth High School head basketball coach Joel Grindle has taken on the job of head of Boys Basketball Operations for the Auto Park Sports Complex in Plymouth.
Grindle left PHS earlier in the spring to become the Associate Head Coach for Head Coach Aaron Butcher at Marian University Ancilla. Even though he’s moved on to another challenge at another level one thing that remains for Grindle is a desire to help young players improve their skills.
“One of the passions I have is teaching the game,” said Grindle. “I think that one of the things that most people would point to as a success in our time at Plymouth would be our feeder program as one of the highlights of the things we did. We spent a lot of time doing that.”
“When this opportunity (at Marian University Ancilla College) became available that was one of the things that was a downside is that we would be leaving a lot of kids that we put in a lot of time with,” said Grindle. “That was one of the highlights not just for me but for my family. We grew that feeder program over three years from nothing to over 120 kids. That was one of the things that I loved to do. Talking to Andrew (Dreibilbis Head of Operations at the Auto Park Sports Complex) there is a need for that in our area for lots of kids. Not just Plymouth kids but all the area schools.”
Grindle has first-hand knowledge of the scene with his own son involved in travel basketball.
“The big thing is that this year was really my first year getting into the travel scene,” said Grindle. “My son wanted to play more basketball. We got him plugged in but we had to go to Fort Wayne to find a team. There were two or three kids (from Plymouth) playing outside of our feeder program. You go over to Fort Wayne and Fort Wayne Carroll for instance has seven kids playing on three teams in Fort Wayne. There is just a big difference in the opportunities over there. In the Plymouth’s, LaVille’s, Triton’s, Culver Community’s in our area, there is a lot of talent but there hasn’t been a place you could go and play without driving an hour or more to practice.”
“We have a gorgeous facility sitting right here in Plymouth that has enormous potential and so now we are working with Club One and OPS who are some of the top clubs in Fort Wayne and a number of clubs from the (Chicagoland) region and Elkhart county to put a circuit together of travel basketball clubs to go around and play,” said Grindle.
“The best thing we are doing is working to make it fit around what the area high school coaches and programs are doing,” he said. “This is supplemental to the high school programs for players that are ready to play at a higher level against higher competition and willing to do some travel and test themselves against the best teams in the state.”
“There are lots and lots of good players at this level in the area that can compete. They just need the chance to go and do it.”
“We just want our kids to be able to play against the best kids in Elkhart or South Bend or Lafayette or South Bend and bring in another level to challenge them,” said Grindle. “You are going to grow your game if for no other reason than the talent of the people you are playing against. Either you are going to get better or you are going to get run off the court.”
The overall goal for Grindle’s program at the Auto Park Sports Complex is to help area athletes be some of the best in the state of Indiana.
“There are clubs like this playing all over the state and where are the best players coming from?” he said. “The Indianapolis donut schools, Lafayette, Evansville, Fort Wayne. We want the opportunities to work with the kids and not take away from their high school programs. We want to be a supplement for them to be among the best.”
Getting things rolling Grindle is hoping to have a solid group of teams to go out and play in “the circuit”.
“I want to have fourth through eighth-grade teams with a balance of multiple schools with multiple programs involved and building a team at each of those age levels that can compete,” said Grindle. “We want to provide a service that hasn’t been offered. We are going to bring in the better teams in the northern part of the state and bring in tournaments to the Auto Park and that will be great for businesses around the area too. I’m Plymouth born and raised it is important to me to have things that are good for the whole community.”
“We are trying to build this to make high school basketball in the area better and better by giving them a chance to get training at a young age.”