The Guru WNBA Report: Tyasha “Ty” Harris: The Big Assist - Athletes Helping Others

By Andy Lpton

Leading the ‘Break

Spending a few minutes speaking with Tyasha Harris and watching her warm up before a game, you can see her joyful nature.  

So it’s not a surprise that Ty wants to spread that joy to young people who cannot only benefit from her joy, but from the opportunities she is providing for them.

Harris is in her fifth WNBA season and a guard with the Connecticut Sun of the WNBA.  

She has been with Sun two years. Harris was a star high school player in Indiana and an All-American player and NCAA champion at the University of South Carolina, one of the premiere college basketball programs in the United States.

Hailing from Noblesville, outside of Indianapolis, Indiana, she played AAU ball growing up in Indiana. She knows that the type of AAU circuits you play in can make a difference between getting or not getting exposure to coaches and scouts in good high school and college programs.  Circuits that have reputations for quality competition and often require travel such as UA (Under Armour), Nike EYBL, and Adidas.

Harris decided to start an AAU basketball program for young people back in Indiana which could help fund the equipment and travel expenses necessary to play AAU circuits that could provide the increased exposure for young people looking to play basketball at premiere levels.

Many of the players come from single-parent homes and cannot afford the expenses associated with being on a travel team.  Expenses such as travel, sneakers, socks, and backpacks.  And because the parents themselves cannot often travel long distances to watch the games, Harris’ program has to make sure the young people are looked after and taken care of on the road.

She organized the AAU program, called the Ty Harris Elite, and runs and supervises it. Part of her responsibilities include fund raising.  There are six different teams with different teams for boys and girls.

 

        She created the Ty Harris Foundation under which she can operate the AAU program as well as create other community        programs.

 

         Playing in Connecticut with the Sun, Harris has plans to expand her community activities in Bloomfield, Connecticut with a back-to-school event to help kids get school supplies  and to run basketball camps.