Lead Instructor - Andrea Johnson

Born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Coach Johnson grew up playing multiple sports but quickly developed a love for basketball. She attended the legendary Whitney Young High School, where she played under the esteemed Coach Arthur Penny.

She earned a full basketball scholarship to Palm Beach Junior College, where her team had a successful run, finishing 7th in the nation her first year and 3rd in her second, just shy of making it to the National Junior College Championship game. 

She transferred to the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), where she completed her playing career and earned a Bachelor's degree in Kinesiology. It was at UIC that her coaching journey began. She spent five years as an assistant coach at UIC before moving on to Northwestern University, where she continued to develop her coaching skills for another five years. 

After her collegiate coaching career, she transitioned into brand marketing at Nike. Over 12 years, she held various roles that allowed her to continue her work with youth through basketball, particularly with Nike’s “Chi League” and Nike Basketball camps across the South and West sides of Chicago. It was during this time that she learned to leverage the game to teach life lessons and create opportunities for young athletes, with a special focus on “at-risk youth.”

She then became the Program Manager for PeacePlayers in Chicago and helped launch a program to provide free basketball programming for boys and girls in the Roseland community—the same neighborhood where she grew up playing. Through this work, they used basketball not only to develop skills but also to unite young people from different backgrounds.

After five years with PeacePlayers, she transitioned to the role of Director of Community Engagement at Urban Initiatives, another sports-based youth development (SBYD) organization, where she worked to provide safe spaces for young people living in divided communities to play, learn, and connect.

In addition to her professional work, she has spent the last 12 years coaching with the Mac Irvin AAU girls' basketball program, continuing to mentor and develop the next generation of players.

Date	Location	Type	Age Level	Player Limit
July 22-24	Libertyville, IL	Essential Skills	3rd - 8th	60 Players