Nike Basketball Camp Harlem Park EMS

Ms. Jackson was awarded a scholarship to the University of Maryland Baltimore County, Engineering Program, where she earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering. After working as an Associate Junior Engineer with American Cyanamid Engineering Plant and volunteering as an Advance Mathematics Instructor at Southside Academy, she quickly realized that her passion was working with youth and assisting them in understanding mathematical concepts and passing both city and state assessments. Ms. Jackson pursued a Masters of Education Degree in Contemporary Leadership from Coppin State University Baltimore, Maryland and later began her career as an educator with the Baltimore City Public Schools. Seeing her potential for leadership, she was highly recommended for the Emerging Leaders Program with an Aspiring Principal’s Program Endorsement via the New Leaders Resident Principal Program.

Her present passion is displayed in her commitment to bringing excellence back to the neighborhood school; more specifically, Harlem Park Elementary Middle School. Through this Nike Basketball Camp, Principal Jackson hopes to build a robust SY 2024-25 Basketball Program; leveraging the competitive courtside skills like teamwork, healthy competition, perseverance, grit, goal setting, mental and physical conditioning, etc. into an academic powerhouse on Harlem Park’s campus. She wants scholars to make a new commitment to their own academic success and lean into the discipline it will take to achieve their academic goals! She’s not only offering programs that will nurture athletic champions, but she’s creating opportunities that will nurture future leaders and academic gladiators.

Principal Jackson’s vision for supporting the scholars of Harlem Park Elementary Middle School and their families is limitless and is embodied in her school’s mantra, “Harlem Park Cares.”

Ms. Chase began playing basketball at the age of seven in an all boy's league. Eventually, she started to play for a local neighborhood basketball organization called "The Liberty Road Girl's Basketball Team." She continued to play basketball in numerous leagues throughout the year including Baltimore Neighborhood Basketball League (BNBL) and Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). While growing up, she attended many basketball camps such as Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), Blue Star, NIKE, Blue Chip and Chris Weller's University of Maryland Women's Basketball Camp.

Ms. Chase attended McDonogh School, in Owings Mills, Maryland and became a four-year Varsity starter and two-time captain in high school. She was the first female athlete in school history to score over 3,000 points and also set records that currently still stand today for scoring, assists, rebounds and steals. As a senior in high school, Ms. Chase was selected as a Rollins-Leuktemeyer Scholar, honoring her as an all-around outstanding student-athlete.

In 1994, Ms. Chase was awarded a four-year athletic scholarship to play for the University of Maryland at College Park. She graduated in December 1998 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Language and Literature and earned a certificate of academic honor in Women's Studies and Health. On April 29, 1998, she was drafted to the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) where she ventured to Charlotte, North Carolina to play for the "Charlotte Sting.” In the WNBA off-seasons, Ms. Chase travelled to Europe to play professional basketball in over 10 different countries within the Federation International Basketball Association (also referred to as "FIBA") including Greece, Turkey, and China. The personal and professional knowledge, experience, and contacts accumulated during her tenure as a world-renowned professional athlete serves as a positive support network for Chase Your Dreams Incorporated.

Following her professional basketball career, Ms. Chase realized the vital need to make a positive difference in society utilizing her natural talents and decided to embark upon the entrepreneurial side of life. In 2009, Ms. Chase founded Chase Your Dreams Academy, a non-profit organization, whose mission is to promote the advancement of youth in education, sports, health, fitness and nutrition. Ms. Chase has developed scholastic and success management programs that support all types of student-athletes in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. She was selected as Who’s Who in Black Washington, DC as an “Emerging Leader Women Under 40!” in 2010. In addition, since her retirement from professional sports, Ms. Chase has gained vast experience in corporate America working as a national sales manager in the pharmaceutical industry and has also been a basketball consultant to several companies and universities across the United States. She is a critical thinker and relationship-oriented negotiator who can apply extensive knowledge of industry regulations to rapid revenue and profit growth opportunities.

Through Chase Your Dreams Incorporated, Ms. Chase markets and sells "Chase Your Dreams: BFIT" at company-wide events. This basketball training handbook is a complete system of how Ms. Chase maintained superior mental and physical conditioning throughout her career as a professional basketball player. She recommends using her handbook as a stepping stone to get that much closer to achieving and chasing personal goals within the sport of basketball. Most recently, Ms. Chase received her certification as a FIBA Coach to coach men’s and women’s professional basketball internationally.

Prior to his tenure at Livingstone College, Coach McNeill was an assistant at Virginia Union University, Chesapeake College, Suitland HS (Suitland, MD), C.H. Flowers HS (Springdale, MD), Largo HS (Largo, MD), and WeR1 AAU team. He has also trained and mentored NBA players such as NBA Champion Quinn Cook and Orlando Magic's Markelle Fultz. Coach McNeill has been a co-director at Sonia Chase's NIKE/U.S. Sports basketball camps for the last 10 years.

Coach McNeill attended Old Dominion University and later Fayetteville State University where he earned his Bachelor's of Science degree in Computer Science in 2001. Although he was born and raised in North Carolina, he is considered a local basketball legend in the DMV (DC, MD, VA) area and continues to be an advocate for youth boys and girls in the community.

He switched over to boys’ basketball in 2010, where he coached his own AAU Boys Basketball program. After his niece showed interest in playing basketball, he started coaching girls for one of the first prominent girl’s programs in the Washington D.C. area, Team Sol, then later joined the Chase Your Dreams family in 2014, and has been coaching girls’ basketball ever since.

In addition to coaching, he also provides sports training, which includes skill development, strength and conditioning, and calisthenics for individuals, groups, high school, collegiate, and professional athletes, by way of Infinite Athletics, a company owned by Coach Raj. Coach Raj currently coaches Girls Basketball at the Riverdale Baptist School, one of the most prestigious girls program in the nation, and works for Prince George's County Public Schools.