Meet Kendyl Grover | Basketball Player Development Coach

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kendyl Grover and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kendyl, maybe we can start at the very start – the idea – how did you come up with the idea for your business?
Top Flight Athletics originally began as a business plan for my final business class in college. At the time I was taking class online finishing my Business Degree, while also working a concrete construction job. Just months before, I was playing professional basketball for a team in Switzerland, The Lugano Tigers. While making extra money on the side working construction for the summer, I really had the time to identify and recognize my true passion, basketball.

As I proceeded forth with my Business Plan project, I tinkered with many ideas in which business I should start. Ultimately I settled on a youth basketball player development organization. It made sense as I love basketball, and loved past experiences where I had opportunities to coach the youth basketball. At the time I had no intention of starting a basketball player development organization, as I was planning on returning to Europe to continue my professional basketball career. Time passed, and I had continued to work on my degree and ended up staying in the United States as a new basketball contract didn’t come to fruition as I had hoped.

A few months after completing my business plan to become a Youth Basketball Player development coach, I also finished my degree and I was off to the races. Post graduation, I accepted a position to work at the national non-profit, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Colorado. I also took a coaching job at my former High School as one of their youth coaches for a 5th grade level team. Still with no intention of pursing Top Flight Athletics, my love and passion for basketball began to brew again as I spent more time coaching the 5th grade team.

Once the season ended for my 5th grade team, parent’s began to approach me looking for additional training, and further to start a spring youth basketball team. As March 2020 approached, I had taken on a few new training clients and the spring team was prepared start with practice, then COVID shut the spring team down. As COVID shut down the opportunity for an organized team activity, a new avenue of private and small group player development training emerged. Since April of 2020, Top Flight Athletics has operated as a youth basketball player development organization with many new ventures on the horizon. The time has flown by, and I couldn’t be more blessed to be in this position.

Currently, Top Flight Athletics offers private, group, and team trainings. All sessions run an hour long Monday-Saturday. Ages accepted are 8 years old and up! Kids will focus on improving their basketball skills; dribbling, shooting, footwork, physicality, IQ improvement and many other skills!

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Top Flight Athletics was started through my own personal passion for basketball. Basketball has opened many doors in my life that I couldn’t have ever imagined. It has taken me around the world, paid for my education and even started my professional career. Those reasons are why I coach basketball. I want to be able to show these young kids that basketball can be used as a tool beyond just putting the ball in the bucket. Growing up in Colorado, there was never a strong basketball culture as we get a lot of snow and tourists. To be honest, as a kid I never thought I could be a collegiate, professional or let alone varsity high school basketball player. I just never saw anyone around me who had made that a possibility. Knowing what I know now, it is totally feasible for any kid to fulfill their basketball dreams, most of them just need guidance. Now the process of making it on your high school team, college team, and even pro team is not going to be an easy journey. I always say, anything good in life is going to take a lot of hard work. That is the case for many ventures beyond basketball, and that is one aspect of life I want these kids to take away from working with my organization.

As I continue on the topic of hard work, I strive to lead by example while working with my athletes. Some may say it’s the adult ADHD in me, but all of my athletes can expect energy to be the primary factor in each session. Not all kids have the intrinsic motivation to bring energy to each session, understandably so as they are still figuring life out themselves. So when energy is lacking I make sure to bring that energy for them! One of my favorite sayings is, “fake it til’ you make it”. So in the case of low energy, all clients can expect that I will make up for that missing energy.

It really is a blessing to be able to mentor and motivate these youth athletes. As long as my body can take it, I will always be present and sweating alongside with each and every athlete that steps in my gym. As a coach I want to give these kids all the knowledge that was bestowed to me. In order to best pass along my knowledge I love to be apart of the training sessions actively coaching and giving examples. Physically being on the court and being apart of these athletes growth process has always made me proud. And further to be able to see these athletes progress session after session is amazing. It’s getting to the point where a lot of these young athletes are further along their path to basketball success than I was at their age. It’s an exciting time when not only you recognize the athletes progress, but when they recognize it themselves.

Regardless of how many basketball training sessions any athletes has done with me, I will always be a resource to every kiddo. It doesn’t matter if they need help picking a college, choosing a summer job, or even life advice, I will always be there for these kids. Just having one mentor in life can change your life journey for the better. And if I can be that mentor or resource, I will 10 times out of 10.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Colorado is a hotspot right now, mainly due to the outdoors and mountainous scenery. For a weekend trip, I would take my guest to one of the mountain cities like, Breckenridge, Aspen, Vail or Keystone. All of those cities have a variety of food options. Two activities I would add to the itinerary ice visiting Breweries and Hiking. Not any in particular, as the options are endless!

Visiting Colorado Springs, it is always cool to visit the Garden of the Gods.

An absolute must while visiting Denver, is going to Red Rocks Amphitheater. Whether its a hiking, seeing a show, or morning yoga you can’t go wrong.

As for food locations some of my favorites are; Watercourse, City o’ City, Urban Egg, Quality Italian, Next Level Burger, Meta Burger, Jerusalem Mediterranean and Fat Sully’s Pizza.

Fun activities in Denver; Drinks and Food in RiNO, Meow wolf, and professional sports events.

Winter activities; Skiing, snowmobiling, tubing, sledding, shopping in the mountains.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My journey has included a wide array of mentors. First and foremost, my biggest supporter has always been my mother, Angela Grover. She introduced me to many sports and always loved me win or lose! Outside of my mother, I couldn’t have reached the heights I have without the numerous coaches who have mentored and taught me the game of basketball. Those coaches taught me much more than the game of basketball including many life skills that still make an impact in my life 10-20 years later.

Last person I would love to recognize is my significant other. She has supported me throughout the entire process of building a business. There have been many late nights and stressful circumstances in which she stood by my side the entire time. Without her this process would have been very difficult and may have never came to fruition. I love each and every one of those individuals who have impacted my life so greatly!

Website: https://tfabasketball.wixsite.com/tfab

Instagram: @topflightathletics_co

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kendyl-grover-40921a215/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/topflightathleticsCO

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5gcgWzWQkr1wuV7MLdJ51Q