BORN2RUN COMPLEX Dormitory opens today for girls camp

The second stage in the Grove City complex's development will welcome 260 girls.
By JOHN KOVACH
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
GROVE CITY, Pa. -- There will be 260 girls, some of them from the Youngstown area, invading the new Born2run Sports Complex today to attend a basketball camp and use the new student athletes dormitory for the first time.
The 360-bed dormitory, the second stage in the development of the three-building Born2run Sports Complex, will play host to the four-day girls individual residential basketball camp.
The third stage of the development, the 26,000-square foot roller hockey rink called the Thunderdome, opened June 5 for the two-day Collegiate Shootout involving primarily Western Pennsylvania colleges.
The dormitory and roller hockey rink, plus a daycare center that is expected to be completed in a few days, will complement the multi-purpose 60,000-square-foot gymnasium that opened in April.
Today, the gym will be host to the finals of an AAU basketball tournament.
Groundbreaking for the $7.5 million complex was held last October.
Guiding lights
James Hoy, a former Sharon High basketball coach from Barkeyville, is the creator and director of operations for Born2run, located in Springfield Township on Route 208 just west of I-79 and east of the Grove City Outlet Mall.
Hoy teamed with real-estate Developer Thomas Linton of Hermitage, chief executive officer of Linton Industries in New Castle, to build the facility which occupies 20 acres of a 32-acre parcel.
Linton owns 60 percent of Born2run while Curt Gramley of Hermitage represents a group of investors called Capital Sports who own the remaining 40 percent.
TheBorn2run girls basketball camp, under the direction of Bob McConnell, is the first of seven high school boys and girls basketball camps slated in June and July.
"The response [for camps] has been fabulous," said McConnell of Slippery Rock, director of basketball for Born2run and a former basketball coach at George Junior Republic.
McConnell, who coached 10 years at George Junior, resigned in April to join Born2run. He formerly held the Run-and-Gun basketball camps at Slippery Rock University and then brought them to Born2run.
"We always had a good base of campers at Hoy's previous camps at La Roche [College] and Kiski Prep, but the new [Born2run] facility has added a uniqueness," McConnell said.
Alexander is recruiter
McConnell is assisted by Clint Alexander, a 2003 California (Pa.) University graduate who serves as Born2run's recruiting coordinator.
Alexander, a native of Aliquippa, used to work Hoy's Born2run basketball camps when they were held at La Roche, and has acquired much experience.
"My job is to go see local games and practices and meet coaches and evaluate the talent and advertise and promote the camps that are available," said Alexander, who also spreads the value of camps.
"I tell them about the camp and how it makes you better and how you form friendships and meet college recruiters and all the advantages that go with camps," Alexander said.
Area representation
Alexander said the Youngstown area will be well-represented at the first girls basketball camp, with high school players coming from Austintown Fitch, Poland, Girard, Springfield Local, Warren Harding, Brookfield and Leetonia.
Headlining the group is Girard's Cachet Murray, who already has become a member of the Born2run girls traveling team.
Interested players, parents and coaches should call Alexander at (724) 748-5623, ext. 304.
kovach@vindy.com