At 11:30 Wednesday morning, the tiny basketballers came through the open door at one end of the Christ United Methodist Church gym and most made a mad dash for the far end of the court.
Four-year-old Evie Rutledge’s pigtails bounced on the sides of her head, while Thomas Bush, who’s also four, sped ahead on Batman shoes that lit up with each step. Behind them came five-year-old Emery Briles, whose pink hair bow matched her pink and white shoes.
There are 12 kids — seven boys, five girls — in the Bitty Baller program that is the brainchild of Brianna “Bri” Kreider.
Now a teacher of three and four-year-olds at the church’s preschool, she once was a standout basketball player at Fairmont High School across the street, and then at Fairmont State in West Virginia, before recently working with the Brooklyn Nets of the NBA.
The Bitty Ballers call her Coach Bri and when she gave a toot on the whistle she wore around her neck, they knew what was coming.
“Baseline!” she instructed. “In 4…3…2…1!”
As she did her countdown, the kids scrambled to the baseline and lined up like little birds on a telephone wire as they awaited the lessons of the day.
This inaugural Bitty Baller program — which began Feb. 28, runs for 10 weeks, and wraps up May 8 — meets every Wednesday for 30 minutes.
It’s meant to teach preschoolers — ages 3 up to 6 — some basic basketball skills, while giving them a rudimentary understanding of some parts of the game. One of her first lessons was to share “court geography” and point out things like the midcourt, foul line, blocks, and baseline.
More importantly, her sessions impart a few life lessons, everything from listening to instructions; to supporting your teammates; to learning to try and try again rather than pouting if you miss a shot or can’t control your dribble.
Kreider — who mixes her passion for the sport with her patience working with little kids — often is assisted by other notable basketball figures in the area.
Wednesday, Kelly Hart, a guiding force in Fairmont High’s run to the girls’ state championship game in 2011, joined the session. Earlier this year, Andrea Hoover, the University of Dayton Hall of Famer who played with the Los Angeles Sparks in the WNBA, helped the kids.
In May, Jantel Lavender — the four-time Big Ten Player of the Year at Ohio State who was a first round WNBA pick, a WNBA champ and still plays professionally —will bring her 6-foot-4 frame to the Bitty Ballers court.
While her connections to the basketball world enable the 33-year-old Kreider to bring in some memorable mentors, it’s because she’s a mom herself — to six-year-old Ace and eight-month-old Reggie — that she’s especially able to understand and connect to the children in the program.
Athletic family
Kreider — whose maiden name was Welch — came from an athletic family.
Her mom, Grace, ran track at Jackson State in Mississippi. Her dad, Brian, has been a longtime area coach and once led the Miami University Hamilton team.
Her younger sister, Chelsea, starred at Fairmont, where he scored 1,437 points and led the Firebirds to the state title as a senior. She then scored 1,592 points in a college career that included two years at Pitt and two at Wright State. She’s now an assistant coach at Ohio University.
After her Fairmont days, Brianna first played at West Virginia Wesleyan and then at Fairmont State. She coached a year there after her playing days ended and then returned to the Dayton area where she coached a year at Oakwood High; aided her dad with his junior college team; and became involved with the Dayton Metro AAU team.
Credit: Peter Wine
Credit: Peter Wine
She already had Ace when she met Mark Kreider. Soon he got a job offer in New York City and they moved to Harlem, were married and she began teaching basketball classes for Fastbreak Sports, a youth sports company based in Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
She then taught at a Brooklyn charter school where she ran three basketball classes and coached various teams.
Soon, the Brooklyn Nets hired her to run youth basketball programs and camps.
She and her family eventually returned to Kettering and Reggie was born here. Mark now teaches financial literacy at The Greater Dayton School.
While teaching at the Christ United Methodist preschool, Bri also does operations and logistics work for a sports company in Colorado that deals with scheduling officials.
As basketball season was ramping up this year, she began to formulate her idea for a kids’ program. She said administrators at the church’s preschool were receptive and parents were interested.
Finally, she had to come up with a name.
“A music teacher here has the Mini Maestros, so I couldn’t use mini,” she said with a laugh. “I was thinking of other words that meant the same and came up with bitty.
“Bitty Ballers sounded pretty good.”
Hoop dreams
Wednesday she taught the kids how to throw a bounce pass.
Then, since several are just learning to dribble, they had a fingertip roll competition where two lines of kids guided balls they rolled through a series of plastic discs on the floor.
When some kids struggled, she encouraged them and soon some of their teammates were clapping and coaxing them verbally, as well.
When she had them lined up on the baseline again, she asked if anyone remembered the B.E.E. F. checklist she’d given them for shooting a basketball through the circle hoop they set up on the court.
Four-year-old Noah Patton didn’t hesitate. He stepped forward and said: “Balance…Eyes…Elbow…Follow Through.”
Kreider starts each day with a lesson plan and afterward sends a text message to each parent telling them the progress of their child. As the session came to an end, Coach Bri called the Ballers together for a final huddle. As all the little arms raised up to meet in a communal grasp, she asked for someone to give the send-off.
That’s when five-year-old Akil Evans met the moment perfectly and led a chant:
“What’s your dream?”
“Basketball Team!”
As Coach Bri beamed, a chorus of little kids’ voices echoed that thought and then, just as they had come in, the preschoolers scampered back across the court to the parents and grandparents who waited at the open gym door.
This was March Madness — Bitty Baller style.
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