Director of Business Operations & Head Coach
Brief info
From the day her parents signed her up for a local Rec team at the age of nine, Coach Crystal was hooked on basketball. Today, she is a passionate teacher of the game who has made it her mission to equip young ladies on and off the basketball court.
Failing to receive the playing time she wanted in the seventh grade taught Crystal the value of fighting for what you want and making no excuses. From eighth grade on, she was named the captain of every team she played for by her teammates. Through this role and the experience of playing under many different leadership styles, she learned that coaches have the power to change the trajectory of an athlete’s life for better or worse.
A former point guard, Crystal played basketball up until her graduation from Northwest High School. The Lady Texans were 3-time District Champions and 2-time Area Champions. Crystal was distinguished as a 2-time All-District and All-Academic player, and was also named Co-MVP her senior season.
She began coaching local basketball camps for kids of all ages during the summer, while still in high school and continued coaching fall and summer leagues at the Junior Varsity and Varsity level throughout college. Crystal started her education at Texas Christian University and received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with minors in Counseling and English from the University of North Texas.
During college, Crystal became an experienced mentor while guiding teenagers on backpacking adventures through the Colorado wilderness as a Young Life leader. She continued mentoring teenagers after college as a local YL Leader until the birth of her first daughter.
In 2012, Crystal began coaching again, this time, handing her oldest daughter and her friends a basketball for the first time, and hasn't taken a season off since. From 2015-2018, she served as the Head Youth Coach for a thriving girls basketball program she helped establish. In the process of growing the program from one team of eight girls to eight teams with more than 75 girls, Crystal repeatedly crossed paths with Coach Kim...usually in championship match-ups! After discovering a parallel vision for female leadership for young female athletes, over the course of many long walks and talks, in 2018 they felt called to join forces to establish the most trusted girls basketball program in Dallas-Fort Worth, TRUE.
In addition to coaching and heading up business operations for TTH since 2018, Crystal was also influential in the development of the girls basketball program at Grapevine Faith Christian School, where she served four seasons (2019-2023). As the Varsity Assistant Coach (2021-2022) and VA + Interim Head Coach (2022-2023), she helped the Lady Lions have two record breaking seasons, (60-16) in which they won 2 Area Championships & multiple tournaments, one being the Prestigious Lubbock Caprock Tournament Middle Division as a 4A Private School. Her impact on the grassroots development of the program was evident in only her second season on staff, in 2020-2021, the D1 Junior High Girls went undefeated with a 19-0 season, winning two tournaments and District, while seeking out public school and high-level private school competition. Both D1 and D2 teams won District.
Basketball has taught Crystal how to persevere/ become mentally tough, and appreciate the value of true mentorship. As a TTH coach, it is her privilege to guide other young women toward similar discoveries while developing skills that apply to basketball and life. “Whether it's the knowledge that our bodies can do so much more than we think they can, or the fact that most of life boils down to what is happening in our innermost being, I feel most fulfilled when I’m helping young women realize their own God-given gifts and understand how to utilize those gifts for a greater purpose,” said Crystal. "I love the concept of team. It seems God's good design that we function together to achieve more than we ever could on our own."
Outside of the gym, Crystal is known for her entrepreneurial spirit. She has owned a photography business specializing in high school senior portraits since 2007 and is also the founder of SororityPackets.com, a thriving online business founded in 2015. Crystal currently resides in Trophy Club with her husband, Mike, daughters Mia Grace (TTH 2025) and Ellie (TTH 2030), and son Maddux (born late 2020).