Tanner Stillwell

dIRECTOR OF bASKETBALL pROGRAMS

I am grateful and honored with the privilege of leading our youth basketball community. My family moved to Steamboat when I was four months old in 1989. We owned and operated the Nite’s Rest Motel for the majority of my childhood right on 6th and Lincoln Ave. Basketball has been in my blood since my earliest days. I remember going to open gym at the Old Junior High (Current SSSD and Boys and Girls Club) and playing in the bleachers while my dad played basketball. 


As an athlete in high school, I was a four-year letterman in football and basketball (named team captain for both). As a senior, I was the 2006-07 SSHS Athlete of the Year, and our basketball team was the undefeated (14-0) WSL Conference Champs and went to the Sweet 16. As starting QB, our football teams went 24-7.


contact

education

In 2012, I received my bachelor's degree in History with a teacher licensure and a minor in Business from Colorado State University. After that I had the opportunity to be an assistant Men’s Basketball Coach at Western Colorado University. Then I Coached Basketball at Gunnison High School (three years as Head C Team Coach and 3 as an Assistant Varsity Coach). We made three straight Sweet 16s. For the past 3-years, I have been the Assistant Varsity and Head JV Coach at SSHS. Our Varsity teams made the playoffs each year and Sweet 16s two of the three seasons.

ABOUT

In October 2021, I became the Director of Basketball Programming at HAB. My responsibilities reach far and wide from on-court coaching, to creating programming, to scheduling gym times, to communications with parents and athletes, to marketing, to website design, to evaluating and selecting our software platform, to registering our competitive teams, to fundraising, to outreach with other youth organizations, to board member recruitment, to building relationships with school administrators, to ordering equipment, to organizing volunteers, and the list goes on. As the sole employee of HAB all of the key responsibilities to running the organization fall on my plate.


When I took over we had very little programming due to the COVID-19 Pandemic which halted all programming for about 20 months. In the Spring of 2022 we introduced our first real sessions (recreational 3v3 basketball (grades 3rd-7th), a competitive 8th grade boys team (8 players), and a competitive 8th grade girls team (8 players). We also were able to offer summer camps. We had just over 100 total players participate. 


Flash forward to 2024, we have had over 200 registrations in our spring Rec 3v3 program for 1-11th graders, two competitive boys teams (5/6th and 8th graders) with a combined 24 players, and a competitive girls team with 14 players. Summer camps in 2023 grew to 150 players and we’re hopeful for another great summer this year.


Since arriving, HAB has increased its offerings to meet its mission: Create basketball opportunities for all. Also, we have run summer camps in Hayden and SoRoCo along with Steamboat. Our goal is to expand our offerings throughout the Yampa Valley in the coming year. We plan to offer a basketball session in Hayden in Spring 2025 that mirrors our Steamboat programming. We’re hopeful this will give us the blueprint for expanding into Craig and SoRoCo as well.


“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” This quote attributed to Teddy Roosevelt exemplifies my personal beliefs. In my role, I see myself as a community and relationship builder first and a basketball coach second. I am passionate about helping and serving others, especially in their pursuits and goals. My goal is to make every player that steps in the gym feel seen and encouraged as part of our family while helping them develop their basketball and life skills. It’s important to me as HAB grows that we find similar people to expand our programming and maintain HAB’s commitment to its values and standards.


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