By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

The Red Devils are almost there.

Eleven months ago, dejected from being eliminated from the postseason, the Crestwood girls basketball team immediately set program-defining goals for the 2024-25 season.

Goal one: Win the Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division championship.

Goal two: Finish the league season undefeated.

The goals were lofty and once set, they also immediately set into action the hard work it would take to attain them.

It fueled an off-season of tireless work and the finish line is beginning to peek across the horizon.

Crestwood is 5-0 in the league, with three league games remaining. The first of which is tonight against Middlefield Cardinal, then followed by a road trip to Kirtland (Jan. 29), then back home against Wickliffe (Feb. 5).

By winning two of the three games, the Devils can secure at least a share of the championship. An accomplishment, yes, but short of the goal, which is why the team remains completely focused and determined.

“The girls have the ability to achieve it,” Crestwood girls basketball head coach T.J. Henderson said.

Henderson is in his fourth season as the coach and jumped in fully committed to the program from the moment he was hired. He entered with a dedicated idea to build out a youth program, while working to enhance the commitment level of his high-school group.

It started slow as Henderson initially wanted to evaluate the program to determine which direction to go first.

“When I took over the program, I was very unsure of what I was walking into,” Henderson said. “I talked to a couple people and once I had a small understanding, I was able to have three open gyms in the summer to meet the girls and then didn’t see them again until October when the season started.

“Throughout that fall, I was looking at the number of kids and what it was like for our youth kids to get into basketball,” Henderson added. “The goal was to create a program that feels like a family and focuses on life lessons and competing.”

To communicate that multi-level approach, Henderson created the H.A.V.E.F.U.N. acronym.

“Most people hear this for the first time and giggle and think it is about messing around and enjoying their time,” Henderson said.

It is deeper than that and has created pillars to give the program an identity.

“We had to introduce the importance of each athlete having ‘heart,’ playing with ‘attitude,’ having a ‘vision,’ having ‘excitement.’ As a team, we must be ‘focused,’ ‘united,’ and have ‘no regrets.’

“We focus this on life and how having these attributes allow you to have fun without thinking or being the most skilled, while also having success. We push it throughout our program from our second-graders to our seniors.”

The community, families and players have all responded.

The youth program, which had been absent, has been revitalized, while current players increased their commitment to previously unseen levels.

Players got involved in year-round open gyms and weight training, the staff introduced the 10,000 shot club, which then grew to the 15,000 shot club.

“All of this work had started with one or two players and has now grown to many players,” Henderson said. “To see these young ladies buy into our program and work toward their goals has made it so enjoyable to watch and be around.”

More fun awaits and the Red Devils are almost there.