TABLE OF
CONTENTS 4
COLLINS' CREW Bill Collins reflects on Team Teague’s first national championship
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TRUST THE PROCESS Grant Lenahan battles adversity to earn role with D1 Training staff
10 BEVERLY AVERITTE: First Lady of The Factory
14 A NIGHT TO REMEMBER Shawn Teague reflects on his son’s first NBA championship
19 BOOKS, BAGS & BUCKETS EDITOR Aueyia Taylor WRITER Josh Ayen
Local student-athletes getting it done on and off the court
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FACTORY FAMILY
PHOTOGRAPHER David Dixon THE PLUG | 1
From the desk of the Director Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine. If you want light to come into your life, you need to stand where it is shining. Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out. Happiness is the only thing that multiplies when you share it. -unknown Kwana
Love, Laugh, Live
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Is It in you?
' s n i l l o C
CREW
BILL COLLINS REFLECTS ON TEAM TEAGUE’S FIRST NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
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Hours before Jeff Teague celebrated his first NBA Championship with the Milwaukee Bucks, his family’s AAU program made history of their own in Orlando. On that same day, Team Teague founding fathers Bill Collins and Kim Felder led a squad of 8th graders to an AAU national championship, the first in program history. That title did not come without its challenges.
*** Three years ago, around the same time Collins joined Team Teague as the program’s assistant director, Head Coach Kim Felder created a squad consisting of players on track to graduate in 2025. The team would be led by a core trio of Mark Zackery, Jalen Haralson and Deric Cannady, each bringing their own unique skillset. Collins had his eye on Zackery the longest. The young man joined the Team Teague family as a third grader, eventually teaming up with Collins’ class of 2025 squad last summer.
“To watch him all the way up now to be a freshman – we knew he was going to be a special piece once he started playing his right grade,” Collins said. Haralson has yet to touch the floor in a high school basketball game, but he already lives above the rim. Several highlights on his Instagram page consist of him dunking or outmuscling his opponents. Deric, the younger brother of the 2021 NBA G League Finals MVP Devin Cannady, is a highly skilled 2-way guard. Collins compares his shooting to Steph Curry and is known as “Mr. Deflection” on the defensive end of the floor. Team Teague 2025 had a busy summer, travelling across the country to play in tournaments in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Practice time came at a premium due to this packed schedule. The lack of practice wasn’t ideal, but Collins hardly noticed a dip in play on the court. “For them to be able to go down and run their sets and execute on offense and defense better than teams that have practiced multiple times a week, it was very impressive to see,” Collins said.
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Collins also registered to play in 15U divisions, against rising sophomores. Players were physically tested against older opponents, but it paid off when facing teams in their appropriate age group. In late July, Team Teague 2025 registered for the AAU National Championships in Orlando, one of the premiere grassroots basketball tournaments. To claim a championship in the 8th grade Division I bracket, the squad would have to endure eight games in four days – four pool play games followed by four wins in a single elimination tournament. As if the schedule wasn’t tough enough, Collins, who was travelling with Felder and another player, landed less than 12 hours before their first scheduled game. Because of a rental car issue, they were stranded at the airport for seven hours before they could head to the team hotel. “By the time we got a rental car, we had to time to drop our luggage off and head straight to the gym for our first game,” Collins recalled. Running on fumes, Team Teague won their first two games in pool play – a 58-54 nail-biter against Charlotte Nation and a 69-40 contest against Mark Black All Stars. Fatigue eventually caught up, and Team Teague 2025 dropped their third game, 72-69. After wrapping up pool play with a 100-38-win, the squad had their eyes set on being the last team standing in their bracket. Three games later, Team Teague 2025 found themselves in the championship game against Ohiobased Flight Team. At one point, Team Teague was staring at a 13-point deficit.
After getting frustrated over sloppy play and questionable officiating, Collins lost his cool and was given a technical foul. Collins admits in the past he has intentionally goaded officials to hand him a tech. Oftentimes, his teams used that foul as a spark to pick up their play. During the AAU championship game, Team Teague 2025 was stunned to see Collins this fired up – it was the first time they saw him this upset. But just like past times, the strategy paid off. “We came storming back and never looked back,” Collins said. Team Teague 2025 secured the 8th grade D1 AAU Championship with a 62-57 win over Flight Team. After coming close in previous years, Team Teague finally claimed their first national championship since the program was founded. ““Being able to do with a group of guys that have been with us for so long – in Mark Zackery, Daric Cannady, with James (Clark) and Jalen Haralson – it was special being able to do it with those guys,” Collins said. Thanks to Collins’ 2025 team and their accolades, Team Teague continues to gain national recognition and build on the foundation laid by alumni like Trayce Jackson-Davis, Jalen Windham and Reggie Bass. As the 2025 squad begins their high school careers, Collins envisions offers rolling in for several of his players. “We’re looking forward to playing in front of more college coaches next season.” THE PLUG | 6
Trusting the
Grant Lenahan battles adversity to earn role with D1 Training staff
By Josh Ayen From a young age, Grant Lenahan had a feeling he would pursue a career in athletic training. His first major experience in the field came with an Olympic-style weightlifting team at the Lift Lab in Indianapolis. As much as he enjoyed lifting, he was even more interested in the science and foundations behind it. “I figured kinesiology would help me go down that route a little bit better,” Lenahan said. Lenahan had his career path in mind, but reaching that goal would not come without its bumps along the way. After withdrawing from the University of Alabama, Lenahan tried to apply to Purdue but did not have the grades to get in. Instead, he spent a semester at Ivy Tech working to boost his GPA. Lenahan was eventually accepted at Purdue. “Since I actually had to work for it, it definitely made me appreciate being at Purdue that much more,” Lenahan said. Lenahan had to figure out his next steps shortly after finishing his kinesiology degree this past spring. All it took was one job application to D1 Indianapolis. Shortly after applying, Lenahan was offered a role to join the training staff in a part-time role.
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As a new member of the D1 training staff, Lenahan works with a wide array of athletes, from elementary students to adults. One trait that Lenahan wants to instill with these young athletes is consistency, from staying on top of a training regimen to taking care of business in the classroom. “If you’re just erratic, you’re not going to see any results,” he said. The biggest challenge of working with younger athletes, however, is getting them to understand the value of training. Once they buy into that process, the rest will take care of itself. “You get a kid like that to come in and do almost anything and they’ll adapt,” Lenahan said. “They’re so impressionable physically and mentally too.” Months into his new role, Lenahan is already starting to see results in some of the athletes he works with. He notices a few of his clients carrying themselves with more confidence and making strides in their strength and conditioning. Lenahan calls this progress one of the most rewarding aspects of the job. “Knowing that how influential my coaches were to me, I feel like I have some type of responsibility when I’m overseeing them and coaching them up,” Lenahan said. Lenahan hopes to develop long-term relationships with his current athletes, even going so far to establish his own client base in the coming months.
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A v e y l r r itt e v Lady of The
By Josh Ayen
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Two teams of soon-to-be high schoolers take the floor for warmups on Court No. 2 at The Factory. The Factory 2025’s coaching staff take their seats at the bench. On the other side, opposing coaches and players do a double take towards The Factory team’s bench to see Beverly Averitte giving a pep talk to her team as they get ready to take the floor. Female coaches in male basketball leagues are becoming more common - Becky Hammon, Lindsay Gottlieb and Jenny Boucek are some of a few active assistant coaches in the NBA – but not as much in AAU leagues. Averitte embraces being the outlier. At the same time, she wants to change that narrative.
*** Averitte began playing basketball in seventh grade at IPS School No. 59. In a few years she would go on to become one of the best players in her conference at Broad Ripple High School. Thanks to former coach Tom Verplank, Beverly started all four years in high school, even being named to all-City teams. After a successful high school basketball career, Averitte was poised to continue playing at Purdue. As Averitte puts it, God had another plan for her. Averitte became pregnant with her first child before enrolling at Purdue.
With her basketball career cut short, she sought other ways to stay involved in the game. In 1998, Averitte joined Jerry Spencer’s staff at Northwest High School as an assistant coach on the varsity girls basketball team. She rotated coaching duties for both the boys and girls teams for about 18 years before stepping away in 2014. Averitte did not get involved in AAU basketball until her mother passed away last January. While trying to cope with this loss, Shawn Teague reached out to his sister-in-law, “Sissy,” with an opportunity to get involved in AAU. “You ready to get back into coaching?” Averitte recalled. Averitte was given an opportunity to coach a new 8th grade team in The Factory’s AAU program – part of the Team Teague umbrella. The previous class of 2025 group was broken up into three separate teams to give kids more playing time while providing new coaching opportunities for people like Averitte. This group was not used to success. Averitte’s patience was tested early in the season as her team suffered loss after loss in tournaments around the Midwest. During a team meeting at a tournament in Ohio, she compared the team to a run-down rehab home. THE PLUG | 11
"Nobody’s perfect, but you strive to “You’re a sore eye,” she said in that meeting. be better than you Throughout her life, Averitte has considered herself a were the day spiritual person. Her faith has also guided her coaching philosophy. Prior to addressing the team in before,” Ohio, Averitte was listening to a sermon with this core message – Make a change, do things different to get things done different. “Nobody’s perfect, but you strive to be better than you were the day before,” Averitte says. “Every little step makes a difference.” In that same meeting, she promised to invest in the team, to build a winning culture. By the time she was done coaching them, they would go from a run-down rehab home to the most beautiful house on the street. Players tell Averitte that her speech was a turning point for the season. That team would go on to make noise in various tournaments, winning three championships in silver brackets and finishing as runner-up in a gold bracket, according to Averitte. As one of a few female coaches on the sidelines in a boys basketball league, Averitte embraces being in a man’s world as the “First Lady” of The Factory. She compares the experience on the court to a chessboard. Averitte is the queen, and the players are the rest of the pieces on the board. “You have to go to work because they’re already looking at you guys like you’re weak, and you’re not weak,” she tells the team. Whether it is on the AAU circuit or as an assistant coach at Pike High School, Averitte looks forward to impacting lives of children through basketball. “Whoever I’m doing it with – kids or whatever – they’re getting the best out of it. They’re learning, they’re having fun and I love to make lasting memories.”
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N EW M ERC H A LERT !
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A NIGHT TO REMEMBER: Shawn Teague reflects on his son’s first NBA championship By Josh Ayen THE PLUG | 14
One month later, Shawn Teague still has moments where he can’t believe his son is an NBA champion. Jeff Teague has checked off several accomplishments throughout his basketball career: All-American, first round draft pick and NBA All-Star. After spending years in the Association, Teague still had one major box to check off, to win an NBA title. Prior to the 2020-21 season, Jeff never played on a team that advanced to the NBA Finals. His deepest playoff run came in the 2014-15 season, when Atlanta fell to Cleveland in the Eastern Conference Finals. Meanwhile, Shawn was less focused on Jeff chasing a ring. Instead, he was proud of his son’s longevity in the NBA. From Jeff’s rookie season in 2009-10 to his first season in Minnesota, every team he played on qualified for the postseason.
Photos courtesy of Milwaukee Bucks
“In recent years, however, Jeff has become more of a journeyman. After leaving Atlanta at the end of the 2015-16 season, Jeff played for five teams in five seasons - Indiana, Minnesota, Atlanta (again), Boston and Milwaukee. Jeff’s journey to Milwaukee happened shortly after he was traded by Boston. Orlando acquired Jeff’s contract in the trade but waived him days later. After a short stay in free agency, Jeff signed with Milwaukee on Apr. 1. Joining a new team is an adjustment for any player, regardless of whether they are an elite player or a guy just trying to prove he belongs on an NBA roster. In Jeff’s case, he had to quickly acclimate himself to a locker room built around superstar NBA talent like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jrue Holiday while proving that he was valuable to the team. “It’s not an easy acceptance, no matter what anyone wants to tell you,” Shawn said. I
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Shawn had a hunch that signing with the Bucks was his son’s best chance yet to capture that elusive title. He felt even better after Milwaukee stunned second-seeded Brooklyn in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. “You’ve got to be at the right place at the right time, doing the right thing and have a little luck in between all of that,” Shawn said. “It all came together.” Shawn is a nervous wreck when he watches his son play, but his stress level reaches the stratosphere whenever Jeff’s teams are in the playoffs. The only way he can watch Jeff’s playoff games is if he is at the game in person. Otherwise, the TV remains off. “I still have that coach’s mentality when I’m dealing with my boys I guess,” Shawn said. “I’m living on every play that they make or don’t make.” Shawn made sure he was present when Milwaukee advanced to the NBA Finals. After bouncing back from a 2-0 deficit, Bucks fans and Fiserv Forum were ready to explode on the evening of July 20. Shawn’s most vivid memories from that night didn’t even come from inside the arena, but rather the thousands of fans who were there to witness history outside Fiserv Forum. Inside the arena, Shawn couldn’t find an empty seat. The sight was a bit jarring considering games had been played inside empty arenas for the past 12 months.
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Inside the arena, Shawn couldn’t find an empty seat. The sight was a bit jarring considering games had been played inside empty arenas for the past 12 months. As the final seconds ticked away, Shawn could barely process that his son was about to be an NBA champion. “The place erupted, you couldn’t hear yourself think,” Shawn remembers. After the final buzzer sounded and the confetti flew through Fiserv Forum, Shawn remembers embracing his son, telling him, “Congratulations, you made it.” Jeff, in good spirits, walked back to the locker room that night and told one photographer, “I just got an A on the group project.” Jeff’s first NBA title is a culmination of all the work he has put in throughout his NBA career. As a 12-year NBA veteran, Jeff has proved he can be a reliable team player, no matter who he is surrounded with. “He’s just been able to fit in and do what has been asked of him,” Shawn said. “And I was really proud of him for those things.”
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TheFactory D1indy
Books, Bags & Buckets:
Local student-athletes getting it done on and off the court
Name: Giavonnie Belton School: Pike Year: Junior Best aspect of my game: Shooting – I would say that is my number one, but that’s kind of what I’m known for and that’s what I think I’m really well at throughout high school. Biggest area of improvement: Defense Favorite subject in school: Geometry Plans in college: Media arts and communications Why is school just as important? I love basketball to death, but without academics and education, how am I supposed to play basketball? So I just feel like that’s something I really need to focus on if I want to make it to where I want to be at. Work outside of school and basketball: I work at The Factory and semi-pro games at Municipal Gardens for Indy Express.
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Name: Tanyuel Welch School: North Central Year: Senior Best aspect of my game: Versatility - Being able to do more than one thing and playing multiple positions Favorite subject in school: Math Plans in college: Either engineering or entrepreneurship Why is school just as important? Everyone has to put the shoes up one day. Education is very important in that case so you have something to fall back on. Work outside of school and basketball: Coaching bitesize leagues at The Factory. Overall, it’s just a fun experience enjoying the kids and watching them, helping them in the sport you really love. It’s really exciting.
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A LEAGUE FOR
EVERYONE
Bite Size League Ages 3-6 Impact League Ages 7-10 5th & 6th Grade League Middle School League High School League 30+ League Indy Pro Am League THE PLUG | 6
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