Welcome to the 2008 – 2009 UP Connection girls basketball club season.  This year we will be providing this website to eliminate some confusion brought about by changes. It is our sincere hope that our website will assist you in being informed of the activities and other happenings of our club.

 My name is Barry Butler and I have been the administrator for the UP Connection since the 2006-07 season. I have been part of the program as a coach since 2004-05. Since I have taken over we have gone through major changes in girls basketball, caused mainly by the state being mandated to change the highschool season as well as our local middle school being one of the few to change their season with the high school. This has caused us to be creative in finding ways to get all the girls involved in their club. 

I have found that the girls involved in this program are very proud of their club, and wear it's title with honor. Our teams apparal and jerseys come in multiple colors to distinguish them from school ball. We treat school ball as high priority but our teams are made up of girls from all the local schools. This you can see in the community the common bond amongst these girls.

My belief is that the girls always come first. My goal is to try and satisfy everyones wishes, but this is a youth club and will be treated as such. To many times I have seen youths pushed to the side for adult decisions. My main concerns are the girls, my coaches, and the community. I respect every parent for getting their child involved, but this club belongs to the players. 

I do not take part in the "kids these days" theory. I have worked on a day to day basis with these kids and they are still fun loving kids as we were. Children now have other options that were not available to us, so our challenge is to discover what motivates them and put in the time and effort that our children deserve. I have found that one of the best ways is the "give respect to get respect" thoery. I have been honored with awards for my volunteering and everytime it amazes me. I feel so rewarded with the chance to work with our youth and I get awards for it! If you haven't had the chance to be involved, volunteer and see what I am talking about.

As you can see by our sponsor page, we have alot of support from the community as they see what great ambassadors of the club our girls are.    

I will continue to keep you updated using our website and I thank you for supporting the UP Connection!!

                     Barry Butler - Administrator of Basketball Operations