Savannah (Ga.) Country Day School girls’ basketball coach, assistant athletic director and physical education department chair Amy Brooks said her education from the United States Sports Academy taught her some valuable lessons, none more important than the value of networking.
Brooks is part of the Academy’s network of thousands of graduates working at all levels of sport around the world. She earned her Master of Sports Science degree in Sports Management from the Academy in 1989 and has worked as a coach at the high school and AAU levels in her career.
“In the sport profession, it is very important to have a personal network of contacts who can help you find jobs and get further in your career,” Brooks said. “The Academy really showed me the value in developing those contacts. Throughout my career, I have kept in touch with so many of my Academy peers, and we’ve helped each other along the way.
“I appreciate what the Academy did for me and I don’t think I’d be where I am today without it.”
Brooks said she is excited to take over a Savannah Country Day School girls’ basketball team that went 20-9 the previous season and reached the second round of the Class A Private playoffs. The team graduated just one senior from the previous year.
“The kids are great and they have developed a great team culture here,” Brooks said. “The thing I like most about coaching is the relationship you get to build with your players, their parents, and the community. I love being able to serve as a mentor to these girls and to try to help them prepare for adulthood.”
Before being hired at Savannah Country Day, Brooks traveled the country as the owner of East Coast Basketball LLC, through which she met college basketball coaches, oversaw AAU girls’ basketball tournaments, and coordinated international travel for high school and collegiate basketball teams. As part of that job, Brooks served as the event coordinator for Puerto Rico College Sports Tours, a series of collegiate women’s and high school girls’ basketball tournaments in San Juan and surrounding areas. She also volunteered as a coach at summer camps in the Dominican Republic.
She also previously worked as the director of physical education and a girls’ basketball coach at the McDonogh School in Owings Mills, Md., for 15 years.
A native of Milwaukee, Wisc., Brooks holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where she was an Academic All-American volleyball player.
Author: Eric Mann
I am the Dean of Marketing, Communications, and Enrollment at the United States Sports Academy. I earned a bachelor's degree in communication and information sciences from the University of Alabama and am currently in the master's degree program in sports management at the Academy.
