SHANNON HEINE AND MERCYHURST UNIVERSITY PERFECT TOGETHER!

Nothing good comes without a price. There must be trust, faith and above all a willingness to sacrifice especially when times get hard. But tough times don’t last, only tough people. In all my years from coaching at the D1, D2 and D3 level, in all my years coaching NBA players, P5 and D1 players. No player has weathered the storm like SHANNON HEINE. No player has gotten off the floor and did more than Shannon Heine. Now she has fulfilled her dream and will play D1 basketball at MERCYHURST UNIVERSITY.

I told Shannon Heine, not to attend Manasquan high school, when she entered 9th grade. I told her she would not play until her senior year. She didn’t listen, she wanted to play with her older sister Georgia. She didn’t play until her senior year. She won a state title as a starter this past season. I told her her she couldn’t attend NBS during Covid. But she showed up anyway in tears and told me “she was betting on herself”. She was smart and won that bet. She was told to take D2 and D3 offers, this year. To pass up on her dream of D1 basketball. She was told D1 schools with bad campuses and weak programs would be her road to D1. She refused, just like she she refused to listen to those telling her she needed to settle as she watched as others celebrating going to D1 schools. She had to answered the same question everyday “where are you going to college “. Shannon Heine had to walk through the fire. She had to truly believe in her dream and herself. She had to see her way through it all. She did just that and walked her way into the arms of Coach Erin Mills. This is the reason she about to do magical things at MERCYHURST UNIVERSITY. She found a coach that believes in her and that she believes in her coach, with all her heart.

See it’s easy to trust when all is going well. When all goes as it planned. But real stuff starts when the storm hits. When everyone is saying shoot more, gets the stats not win chips. Look out for yourself, did the dam and the chips. It hard, when everyone thinks your crazy for not choosing a school and tells you time is running out. They want you to settle and forget the long hours in the gym. The traveling, money spent and the tears along the way. They want you to be like so many others before you and give up. You see those kids dreams were never real, it why it was so easy for them to settle in many cases. But when you dream is real. Shannon, just couldn’t settle, she had made too many sacrifices along the way. You have to trust your inner circle when things get stormy and the road gets bumpy. You have to know that a Tracey Sabino will deliver, you have to know a Mary Beth Chambers will coach you up, that a Lisa Kukoda has your back. A Larry Smith will give you the training. See when it gets hard, trust is all you have. It’s a risky business putting your faith into the hands of others. But SHANNON HEINE HAS ALWAYS BEEN DIFFERENT THAN MOST.

Role models matter, Shannon has the best one anyone could hope for in her big sister Georgia. She plays at UPENN. She was treated poorly by adults who turned their back on her and yet she still managed to find her way to UPENN. She taught Shannon to rise above those trying to throw her in a box. But it was her mother Bernie Heine that worked the extra hours after teaching all day to pay for her training. That wiped away her tears. That comforted her doing headaches, disappointments and refused to let let her give up on her dreams. She is the real star here. BERNIE HEINE is a super women, a super mom. The type of mom every kid deserves. She believes in her kids and will do anything to give her kids an opportunity. She believes that given an opportunity and if the kid does their part, they can do great things. Well Shannon HEINE has done great things and she has her mom and dad to thank.

This journey has been long and at times painful for Shannon Heine. Not because of the basketball or the recruiting. It been long because her faith and character has been put to the ultimate test test. She has had to learn what disappointment really feels like over and over again. Every step of the way since 6th grade. She has had to fight labels and opinions that don’t reflect who and what she is. She has had to walk the walk.. so that’s exactly what she did, all the way to D1 MERCYHURST UNIVERSITY…. NO KID has ever paid a bigger price getting there… CONGRATS TO SHANNON HEINE and her family and her inner circle of greatness