Spiece Indy Lady Gym rats

DIRECTOR: James Banks
LOCATION: Indianapolis, Indiana

The Nike Lady Gym Rats started much like every other travel program is started; a father trying to help his daughter and her friends play competitive basketball. James Banks was that father. As he explains, “We were originally called the Speice Diamonds. We would get kids in a five mile radius from where we lived. We kept it fun and made it competitive in hopes of helping kids earn scholarships.”

Interestingly his daughter would not stay with the program through high school, but that did not keep Banks from keeping the program alive. “She left to go play with Candace Parker in Chicago with the Chicago Hoop Express and the Illinois Jaguars when she was in 8th grade. She got to play with Candace and be coached by Parker’s father” Banks says. “That’s what was best for her at the time, but we kept working to build the program.

Banks also talked about how the team eventually earned notoriety. “We became a relevant program by playing teams from all over the country. Then in 2009 with a talented collection of girls playing for us, we turned a corner. We were playing very competitively.”

By 2010 the Gym Rats program was center stage on the national scene. Banks tells the story, “We were in DC playing the Georgia Ice with Diamond DeShields, Kaela Davis and all those kids. Bria Goss guarded DeShields the entire game and held her to five points. We may have gotten a little lucky to beat such talented kids, but at that moment, everyone knew we were for real.”

After that year the Indy Gym Rats earned a contract with Nike to become a sponsored program. Banks points to that year as a turning point for the program. He says, “The name Gym Rats began to recruit itself. Many of the state’s top prospects began to want to play for us.”

The Gym Rats have been one of the ore consistent performers as of late on the EYBL circuit mainly because of the talent that they have been able to attract. Banks says, “Our 2015 class was our first group to go deep into the tourney at Nike Nationals. We feel like we have have great momentum after our finish this year with our 2016 class.”

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