Tuesday, December 10, 2024

A Circle of Support: Mentorship at the Heart of Rising Stars

Paul Savramis

When recognized for any Rising Stars accomplishment, founder Paul Savramis is quick to share the wealth.

As Paul Savramis looks over the walls of the new Rising Stars Athletic Complex and the faces that smile back at him from those walls, he thinks back to 1996 and points out that many of the original Rising Stars directors are gone. Any credit for what Rising Stars has become today, Savramis will tell you, should include a long list of others whom he felt now rightfully belong on that first group, or as he likes to put it, the "village of original pioneers" that helped make a vision into a reality.

Founder Paul Savramis is proud to say that today's village pays great homage to the original foundation upon which Rising Stars was built. So much so, Savramis continues, that most of today's group was a product of the Rising Stars program. The group Savramis credits today is a "who's who" of Rising Stars and are the ones who have come and stayed.

The first Savramis would point to is Rising Stars Executive Director Dan Gimpel, who has been instrumental in making the new Rising Stars Athletic Complex a reality. Dan has gone through every aspect of today's programs, and his success on and off the court with what he's done is a great motivational story for every boy and girl who comes through the door. And not just the players, Paul Savramis tells us, but the families who hear how Dan succeeded understand the value of what Rising Stars has for their children.

Another whom Paul Savramis credits is Program Director Tom Hughes, who, together with his wife, Bethany LeSueur, built one of the finest girls' programs in the country. Hughes not only has been the backbone of the girls' offerings, but his backstory includes meeting his wife through Rising Stars. That meeting has turned Rising Stars girls into a national power and has recruited former women's Olympic gold-medal team coach Jill Cook. Savramis sees the girls' program today as more than just basketball; he believes it defines what a sports offering should include for girls in every area.

Paul Savramis also likes to say that the village now includes others like Dan who not only were program players who have come back to Rising Stars but who have come back with kids of their own.

Paul Savramis
Finally, Savramis points to Tim O'Connell, who is instrumental in keeping the new Athletic Complex going day to day and who is a perfect example of keeping it in the family. Tim has raised two incredible sons, Michael and Thomas, over fourteen years of playing and coaching, one of whom, Michael O'Connell, was in last year's NCAA Final Four and is one of the current leaders in assists this year.

All of these and so many others Savramis credits as the new Rising Stars village, and, and here Savramis repeats one of his favorite quotes, "It takes a village to raise a child."

When it comes to Rising Stars, that village has meant everything for Paul Savramis since he began the concept of the Rising Stars Play Learn Grow foundation.

"Everything we do today is a product of a group effort," he says, "and that group knows exactly what it is that's needed to make what we do work and work well."

The reason is simple: most of that group went through it themselves.