About Us

Arizona Elite is the first and oldest girls club basketball program in Arizona. Our goal as a non-profit 501(c)(3) is to provide the leadership training and opportunities necessary for the female student-athlete to succeed at the collegiate level. We have been fortunate to aid more than 200+ student-athletes in achieving their goal of playing at the collegiate level. We’ve had seven players achieve Team USA Gold Medals and five of our players have made it to the WNBA (Lindsay Taylor, Christina Wirth, Dymond Simon, Kayla Pedersen and Kristine Anigwe).

Our high school teams participate on the Girls Under Armour circuit, traveling around the country during the spring and summer months to play in NCAA certified events in front of hundreds of college recruiters.

In order to get to the Elite level it all begins with our younger groups (3rd through 8th grade) and the rigorous skills training and competitive games needed to improve their ability.

Elite teaches fundamentals and team concepts consistent for all age groups with modifications based on skill level. The youngest teams will learn the basic plays and strategies that the older teams use which allow them to compete as they progress through the program. This is a big benefit for the coaches as well, as they all have a base set of offenses, defensive schemes, presses, and strategies with players who have been exposed to these concepts for several years. This approach still allows for modification based upon talent level but it provides a consistency that we’ve found to be highly effective for our club.

ARIZONA ELITE STAFF

Gary Pedersen

Head Coach
Arizona Elite 17U Black (GUAA)
480.332.9848
gary@azelite.net

Gary has been the President of Arizona Elite “Elite” for the past 17 years and currently coaches the top team in the program, Arizona Elite 17U Black. He has two decades of coaching experience on both the Adidas Gauntlet circuit and the Girls Under Armour circuit. His involvement with “Elite” began coaching when his daughter, Kayla, (former Stanford Allstar and WNBA standout) started with the club back in 1998. Through the next several years Gary advanced to the senior level where he took over running the club in 2006 in order to maximize the opportunities for the young female student athletes. With the ever changing landscape of girls club basketball, Elite became one of the original members of the Adidas Gauntlet circuit and had many years of success playing against the best teams around the country. When Under Armour entered the marketplace they began recruiting many of the biggest names in the game and eventually Elite made the move over the GUAA circuit where they’ve consistently placed in the top tier on the national level. Gary and his wife Kelli are striving to innovate and maximize the opportunities available for our student athletes to keep Arizona Elite as the premier Club program on the west coast.

Gary played NAIA basketball and semi-pro basketball across the Mid Western United States before moving with his wife and two young children Kayla and Kyle out to Arizona in 1993. Kayla currently runs the Junior Division with Elite and Kyle, a three time State HighSchool champion at Fountain Hills High School, works for RBC Financial out of the Quad Cities in Iowa. Both Kayla and Kyle have two kids of their own and are often found visiting our teams at practice or on the road when traveling.

Jay Caserio

Assistant Coach
Arizona Elite 17U Black (GUAA)

Jay has been a staple in the Arizona Elite program for many years. Elite has borrowed him from Gilbert High School's prestigious boys basketball program where he is the all-time leader in wins with an overall record of 240-126. Under Coach Caserio's direction, Gilbert captured the 2018-19 5A State Championship with a record of 29-1.

Jay was named the San Tan Region and the 5A State Coach of the Year in 2019. He has also been named coach of the year in the Fiesta Region and by the East Valley Tribune four times and in Section 1 of Division 1 in the 2014 season.

Jay graduated from Northern Michigan University, and earned his Master’s degree from Northern Arizona University. He teaches Honors and AP Biology at Gilbert and is in his 19th year of teaching. He has been married to his wife Christy for 20 years. They have two daughters, Madison (18) and Meisha (16) and two sons, Crew (11) and Tripp (8).

Jay is passionate about coaching, teaching the details of the game, and the daily process of what it takes to be successful.

Scott Campbell

Assistant Coach
Arizona Elite 17U Black (GUAA

Scott is joining the Arizona Elite Basketball family with a lifetime of basketball experiences both as a player and a coach. He comes from an extensive basketball family. His younger brother Mark, is currently the Head Coach of the TCU Women’s Basketball Program. Scott’s wife Brie, was an All-American player at Oregon City High School and then went on to play at the University of Oregon. She is currently a Varsity Assistant Coach for the Gilbert HS GBB Program as well as one of our coaches at Arizona Elite.

Scott has been coaching basketball and teaching at the high school level for the past 25 years. He began his coaching career as an assistant coach for the 3-time National Championship Oregon City Girls Basketball Team. During his 5 years at Oregon City HS, he helped coach the OCHS Girls Basketball team to a run of 3-straight Oregon 4A State Championships (2001, 2002, 2003).

After his time at OCHS, Scott and his family moved to Washington where he served as the Head Coach of the Boys Basketball Programs at Sedro-Woolley HS, Sehome HS and Puyallup HS during a 17-year career at the high school level. For the past four seasons Scott has coached two different teams in the 17u UAA Boys Spring & Summer Circuit (Elite Prep Academy and Arizona Select). This past season Scott is serving as an assistant coach for the highly successful Phhoenix Prep OTE Team. We are excited to welcome Scott to our Arizona Elite family.

Colton Walker

Head Coach
Arizona Elite 16U Black (GUAA)

Colton is entering his fourth season with Arizona Elite. In addition to coaching the top 16U team, he is also the head coach of the varsity girls basketball team at Gilbert High School. Previously, Walker spent five years coaching seventh grade girls basketball at Stapley Junior High School (Mesa, AZ), one year volunteering as a student manager for the West Virginia University women's basketball team (Morgantown, WV), one year as the freshman girls basketball coach at Mountain View High School (Mesa, AZ), and one year as an assistant womens basketball coach at Benedictine University at Mesa (Mesa, AZ).

Walker graduated from Mesa High School (Mesa, AZ) in 2018, where he spent two years as a student assistant for the boys basketball program, which at the time, was led by Shane Burcar, the current head coach of the mens basketball program at Northern Arizona University.

Walker earned his Bachelor of Science in Multidisciplinary Studies, with minors in Sport & Exercise Psychology, Sport Communication, Public Relations, and Native American Studies, fully online, through West Virginia University. He is currently enrolled in the Teachers in Residence Program with Rio Salado College and working as a Special Education Teacher at Gilbert High School.

Brie Campbell

Head Coach
Arizona Elite 15U Black (GUAA)

Brie is starting her 2nd year as a coach in our Arizona Elite Program. Last year Brie served as one of the coaches for our Girls UAA 15u Arizona Elite Black Team.

Brie brings a championship pedigree of success in basketball to the teams she is coaching. In her four years of playing varsity basketball at Oregon City High School her teams had a career record of 102-2. They won 4-consecutive Oregon 4A State Championships, 3-consecutive USA TODAY National Championships, and Brie was recognized as a McDonald’s All-American during her senior year. After high school, Brie went on to play at the University of Oregon. Her Oregon teams won 2 Pac-10 Championships and played in 4 NCAA Tournaments.

After her playing career was finished, Brie has been involved in coaching both boys and girls teams at a number of different age groups and levels. She is currently an assistant coach with the Gilbert HS Girls Basketball Team. She has a deep understanding of what it takes to be successful and she has a fun and positive way to communicate and teach that to the players she is coaching. We are excited to have her working with our Arizona Elite program.

Myron Crawford

Head Coach
Arizona Elite 17U Gold (GUAA Rise)

A Chicago native, Myron Crawford comes to Arizona with a passion for coaching. Prior to moving to Phoenix, Myron traveled across the country, working as an IT Consultant, but utilzed his free time to participate in numerous camps and coaches clinics that included an invite to sit in on the USA Basketball Women's Senior National Team mini camp in 2016. Learning from coaches and players at the highest level, he is now working under Basketball Hall of Famer, Jennifer Gillom, as the JV Basketball Head Coach at Xavier College Prep.

Accumulating experiences from working with some of the best talent in Arizona over the past four years, Myron started his high school coaching career at Casteel High School in 2018. In his first and only year at the school, as the Freshmen Head Coach, his team went 16-0 for the season. Myron also worked at Casteel as an assistant varsity coach, helping guide that team to it's first state Final Four in 2019.

Residing in the East Valley, Myron enjoys technology, watching film, and trying new food. If there is one word to describe him, it would be "vibrant". While many coaching styles vary in temperament, he believes and has shown that bringing the best out of each athlete begins with the spirit and energy brought to each individual.

Rey Zelaya

Head Coach
Arizona Elite 7th/8th Grade Black
(Participating on the MADE Hoops Circuit)

Rebecca Mendez

Head Coach
7th/8th Grade Gold

Coach Mendez started as a volunteer assistant coach for half a season with Arizona Elite and is now entering into her third season as the Head Coach for the 7th/8th Grade girls team. She had the privilege of coaching in the CP3 Middle School Combine in December 2022. Prior to Rebecca's move to Arizona in 2009, she coached a year at her alma mater, Bellflower High School, as the Junior Varsity Head Coach in 2006.

Rebecca played basketball for Bellflower High School and Cypress College. During both campaigns, she was a starting guard and was awarded Coach's Award and Best Defensive Player. She also played a year of tennis in high school as #2 singles and was awarded Coach's Award. Rebecca played tennis at both Cypress and Cerritos College as #2 singles. She then obtained an Associate's Degree in Liberal Arts from Cerritos College in 2008. Rebecca is currently finishing her Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice from Arizona State University.

Mo Kirby

Head Coach
5th/6th Grade Black and 5th/6th Grade Gold

Maurice “Mo” Kirby is in his second year of coaching for Arizona Elite. After graduating from Basha High School, Mo went on to play college basketball at Virginia Tech and Loyola Chicago. He completed his Masters in Sports Journalism from IUPUI in 2018.

After competing professionally overseas for four years he is back home and wanting to make an impact on the next generation of basketball players. His focus is to teach the fundamentals and allow his players to find a natural love for the game of basketball.