Meet Trailblazer Brittany (BJ) Jackson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brittany (BJ) Jackson.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Brittany. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
As a young kid, I grew up in the inner city of St. Louis, MO, but my mom provided me with the best education by bussing my hour away from home to attend school. During the summer where the trouble always seen to happen since everyone was out of school, at the age of 7 years old my mom signed me up to run AAU track and field. For the next eight years, I ran AAU track, in results of me breaking records, setting some of my own, meeting so many wonderful people around American, and becoming a 2x Junior Olympic Champion. As I got older, my interests in basketball sparked more than track, so for the last four years as a youth athlete, I played AAU basketball. My mom was a single mother of four, who drove a school bus for a living, so money was not falling off trees where I came from.

It started December 2011 when my mother announced to my brother, sisters, and I that she was having a biopsy to see if a tumor she had was cancerous. A couple of days later, my mother was diagnosed with 4th stage stomach cancer. The first thought that came to my mind was that I wanted her to see me graduate from college since I just started going back after six years, four months earlier and that I just wasted eight years of my life during nothing. Unfortunately, my mom didn’t get see me graduate she died on May 2012. After her death, I felt that I hit rock bottom, the only thing that I had going for myself at that time was school. As much bad that was going on in my life, school was the one thing that kept me going because I wasn’t just going for me anymore, but for the woman, I just lost in my life. I stuck with school and end up transferring out of a community college in St. Louis to Arizona State University in Downtown Phoenix. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my degree, BS in Exercise and Wellness, all I knew is that I wanted to coach basketball. I started working in the school district as a substitute teacher and getting hired as a basketball coach, and later on a track coach at another school.

While coaching basketball, I started to get the world of Arizona basketball which is way different from Missouri basketball. Talking to players and parents, I started to get a sense of how AAU basketball works out here. I did my own research on AAU basketball in Arizona and what I discover was mind-blowing to me, basketball teams are charging parents high ridiculous prices. As I browse these different websites of AAU basketball teams, I notice all these NCAA viewing tournaments these teams are attending, as well as coaches getting paid. So, after all the research I did, I was still amazed about how much these parents are paying these teams in basketball and track teams. Sitting back and thinking about the fun times I had as a kid as a youth athlete while thinking about my mom’s finances, I decided that I wanted to form my own youth organization for sports.

The organization that I came from as a kid, the Royal Knights, was one of the most respected organizations in youth athletes. Mike Carr, my god-father was founder and owner of the Royal Knights, and he had multi-sports in the organization: track & field, basketball, baseball, football, bowling, and more. I wanted to bring that experiences to Phoenix, so I got on the phone with my old coaches and teammates and pick the brains of the best that I know of. February 2019 the Desert Knights Youth Clubs (DKYC) was born in Phoenix, AZ with the first program being the basketball team. Desert Knights Basketball (17U division) played in their first summer circuit and AAU tournaments this past summer, only having a total of 7 girls, 1 being in the 8th grade we finished 3rd in the AAU National Championship in Scottsdale, AZ.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Nothing that is worth it has a smooth road. I am in the first year of my organization and I have learned so much within the last seven months about youth athletics that I would not have dreamt of. My biggest challenge was and still is, is to get parents and/or athletes to buy into my program, understand what I am trying to do with our student-athletes. Another struggle that I have had is doing everything by myself, coaching and administration work for the whole organization. The best advice I would give to other young women is to have patients be determined and committed. If you work hard for something and you see yourself getting it, don’t give up, don’t stop. GO HARD!!

We’d love to hear more about Desert Knights Youth Clubs.
The Desert Knights Youth Clubs is a non-profit organization that focus on giving youth athletes a platform to display their skills while preparing for the next level of life and guiding them to be successful in life no matter where it takes them. As founder and owner of the Desert Knights Youth Clubs, I am proud to present this organization to student-athletes all over the Valley.

DKYC is not known at all around the Valley, but I would like to change that. With our basketball program running, and with track & field and flag football programs around the corner I want to be known as an organization that provides a fun, healthy, competitive environment for student-athletes. I am most proud about DKYC is because it takes youth athletics to another level about life, not winning. Yeah winning is fun, but we don’t win in life all the time, so our student-athletes are taught that through our world of sports.

DKYC is set apart from other organizations because we will have multiple sports in our organization. We will give our parents a stress reliever by supporting their student-athlete with them, keeping prices low, and continuing our family-like environment.

Do you feel like there was something about the experiences you had growing up that played an outsized role in setting you up for success later in life?
As a young kid, I grew up in the inner city of St. Louis, MO, but my mom provided me with the best education by bussing my hour away from home to attend school. During the summer where the trouble always seen to happen since everyone was out of school, at the age of 7 years old my mom signed me up to run AAU track and field. For the next eight years, I ran AAU track, in results of me breaking records, setting some of my own, meeting so many wonderful people around American, and becoming a 2x Junior Olympic Champion. As I got older my interests in basketball sparked more than track, so for the last four years as a youth athlete, I played AAU basketball. My mom was a single mother of four, who drove a school bus for a living, so money was not falling off trees where I came from.

Growing up running and playing basketball for AAU are memories that I will cherish for the rest of my life. The coaches that were in my life taught me so much about life at a young age just by being there for me all those years. Friends that I have competed with are friends of mines today and we talk about all the good times and how it is not what it use to be when we were young. But we live in different cities now and are trying to make a difference in youth sports, give what was given to us.

Pricing:

• Desert Knights Basketball: $300 non-refundable: $200/monthly Feburary-September
• Desert Knights Track & Field: $150 registration: track meet fee: varies

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sportstraining22.com
• Phone: (602) 319-8630
• Email: coachbjackson22@gmail.com
• Instagram: sports_training22
• Twitter: desertknights_youthclubs

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