17U GOLD

General Background

Hi Guys! My name is Zach Holton, and I am the director for the Colorado 76ers Basketball Club. I will also be the coach of our 17U girls team. I am married to my AMAZING wife Re Holton, and we have been together since high school. We were married young at the ages of 19 and 20 respectively, and have spent our entire adult life together. We are incredibly blessed with our 5 year old son Riggins, and he is a big part of the reason why I decided to start this club now. I want him to grow up knowing that if you are passionate about something, and you dedicate yourself to it wholeheartedly… there is nothing wrong with chasing that dream. Finding a career in this field that was both stable and sustainable has been a lifelong goal of mine. Athletics has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember. As a 6th grader, I used to wear my white Nike basketball tank top with blue swoosh and matching Nike wristbands nearly every day of the week according to my mom. I grew up playing any sport that was going on around me, and quickly fell in love with competition and the idea of being the best. To have this opportunity to start my own basketball club with what I think is THE best staff in the state of Colorado for girls basketball, is a blessing and a responsibility that I will not take for granted, and that I do not take lightly. I have spent countless hours of daydreaming about what I would do if it were my club or my program. Now that I have that opportunity, I am extremely excited to share my vision and my passion with you all. And at the end of the day, I am excited to finally have my own platform from which I can serve our community! It is my belief that athletics, and specifically the process an athlete must go through in order to become great, is the best preparation for their life outside of sports.

Playing/Coaching History

My first real introduction to the game of basketball was as a young middle schooler playing P-I-G with my dad and uncle in the driveway. I was hooked. I grew up attending a very small private school in our area, and didn’t play a competitive game with referees until I was in 7th grade. Since that time, there has not been a month of my life that has gone by that I haven’t been in a gym either playing or coaching basketball. This past high school season was my 16th year coaching high school sports, 13 of which have been spent coaching basketball. I have also coached volleyball and soccer at a few different area high schools, and I have also coached both boys and girls. In 2016, I was offered a position coaching the boys C team at Broomfield High School. That is where I met Mike Croell who was an assistant with the boys team during a brief hiatus away from being head of the girls program. In 2018, Mike accepted the job to take the girls program back over again, and he was gracious enough to bring me with him as his JV coach. The past 4 years with Mike Croell I have been able to carve my coaching teeth under a living legend. The two of us have worked closely to keep our high school program afloat during a period where many of our best athletes have been heavily dedicated to other sports. Despite our team not being as successful as what Mike is used to, he has remained wholly dedicated to rebuilding back to dominance once again. This club will play a big part in helping us rebuild towards that goal, as well as to help us increase our impact to a broader area and a larger number of athletes as we expand carefully into the future.

Director Remarks

At the foundation of my mission as a club director is a call to serve. I believe that a leader is someone who serves first, and demands only when necessary. I also believe that leadership also means being willing to do things that others don’t want to do, or don’t have the time or ability to do. There is a Bible verse at the bottom of the About Us page that is at the heart of my mission as the director of the Colorado 76ers as I am called to serve my God above before everything else. He has specifically blessed me with the talents and abilities necessary to perform this role well, and I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude that compels me to pursue this with every ounce of passion that he has given me toward this end. Let’s get to work!