When choice and chance collide, magic can happen. Such is the story of Britnea Moore, Lower School PE teacher, basketball coach, seasoned athlete, and trainer, whose interest in coaching and developing players has become a worldwide endeavor.
In 2013, Britnea founded Access Your Game Training, a basketball skills academy in Oakland, whose mission is to help athletes reach their full potential.
"Coaching, developing players, and mentoring are my passions," said Britnea Moore, known as Coach Brit within the Head-Royce community.
It was during a recreational trip to Africa in 2018, however, when Coach Brit made a chance connection to a local organization over Instagram. Daniel Benneh from the Social Drive Foundation asked her, based on the hashtags she used in her post, if she would be willing to do what she does in the United States in Ghana. Out of their connection, she began an intensive basketball academy in West Africa—a four-day-long skills camp—working with a small group of kids.
Her personal journey as a player, which she once thought of as a difficult path to get to the next level, turned out to be a humbling experience when she saw the challenges faced by others. This realization solidified her commitment to what she was doing.
Since its founding, the academy's impact has been tremendous. Coach Brit and her team have inspired the hearts, trained the minds, and strengthened the bodies of hundreds of young athletes who do not have access to the resources and mentorship that their US counterparts benefit from. And she developed a train-the-trainer model, developing curriculum for ongoing instruction, taught when the camp is not in session under the leadership of Social Drive Foundation.
What began as a modest number of athletes—20-30 participants per camp—has now grown to over 100 kids of all ages who share an unwavering commitment to self-improvement and who aspire to play competitively. Many dream of playing basketball in the U.S. In the four years of operation (not including the COVID-19 years), Brit’s intensive academy has also expanded to new sports, including soccer and American football, and new locations, with a program in Thailand.
It solidifies her purpose, Brit explained. “You can’t compare the amount of effort this has taken with the joy you see on the kids’ faces. They are so appreciative. All they want to do is tell you what they’ve been working on since last camp,” she said.
When she travels now, she brings gear: basketballs, shoes, T-shirts, and other equipment. And in 2022, she partnered with Jeff Tarver, a youth sports expert and entrepreneur from Atlanta, to revamp a basketball court at a local school, St. Peters, located in Takoradi, a city in the Western region of Ghana. There they laid concrete and painted the floor to create the space and enable the camp to better operate and grow.
Britnea has a deep desire to give back her talents to future players, and she thrives on connecting with athletes through her innovative style of training, finding great joy in developing the whole person, not only for the world of basketball, but to be better human beings. Her dedication to empowering the next generation underscores the global reach of our community’s compassion and drive to foster growth and opportunity.
Her hope is to make this experience accessible to high school students as a travel-study learning opportunity, fostering global engagement from a young age. Reflecting on her journey, she continually asks, "How can we make this better? How can we offer this on a larger scale?" With each camp, she brings new energy and resources, determined to make a lasting difference. The global connections she fosters and the joy she brings to young athletes drive her forward, lighting up the path for future generations.
