We recently connected with Trey Bailey and have shared our conversation below.
Trey, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
My business blends the two aspects of my life that have been consistent for 30 years. My faith and personal relationship with Jesus Christ and my passion for Basketball. I’ve been coaching basketball since 2015 and have been coaching at the college level since 2017. I’ve been under many head coaches in my assistant days, who just weren’t positive and didn’t incorporate faith into their style of coaching. My vision was to change this and to give kids a positive outlet from the voice of a Basketball Coach. My vision was to cultivate a community for kids who desire a positive basketball atmosphere with prayer and faith. Your faith can easily be lost in a negative basketball program so why not join Faith and Hoops to keep your faith alive?
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’m currently the Head Women’s Basketball Coach at Saint Elizabeth University and a Ministry Servant Leader at Calvary Temple International Church in Wayne, NJ. At the age of 27, I took a deeper dive into my faith but also a deeper dive into coaching. I got into college coaching which at that level, it becomes a business. While at the same time, getting more serious about my faith, where I began to lead connect groups to cultivate community.
Leadership became a natural part of my life and I knew I wanted to lead something bigger and I knew I had a bigger purpose in life with those two passions of Coaching and Ministry.
From the moment I came up with “Faith and Hoops” I’ve heard dozens of testimonies about how there’s nothing like my basketball ministry out there. We offer one on one trainings, group training sessions, prayer calls and college readiness resources for our athletes. We also run several AAU basketball teams who travel to compete in the Fall and Spring.
Have you ever had to pivot?
Faith and Hoops began as a Clinic where we’d simply pray and train as a group of all ages on Saturdays. However, it wasn’t long before many people began desiring a competitive team that travelled and played games. Shortly after hearing that so many people, including my clients, desired this, It was an easy decision to begin researching how to begin an AAU travel team.
I quickly discovered the steps to doing so and began action immediately which included setting up tryout dates, finding a manufacturer for uniforms and entering/booking our team into tournaments.
This was a positive pivot and the best one yet for my business. Sometimes where you start will expand bigger and better than you imagined!
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
Your team reflects you! When starting my business, I hired two assistant coaches. They were raved about by my clients due to how much energy and fun they bought to practices. There’s going to be times where you can’t be there and you need to ask yourself, can you trust your team to lead without you?
Contact Info: