Former Traverse City Central High School Girls’ Basketball stand-out and current Michigan State Women’s Basketball head coach, Suzy Merchant, will return to her hometown on Thursday, September 25th, to announce her role as spokeswoman for the Boys and Girls Club of Grand Traverse.
Merchant captained Traverse City Central’s Girls Basketball Team in the late 80’s under head coach and long time mentor, Jim Anderson, now on the Board of Directors of Boys and Girls Club of Grand Traverse. After graduating high school, as a two-time All State Award winner, Suzy continued her basketball career at Central Michigan University.
Merchant’s coaching career includes leading teams from both Eastern Michigan University and Saginaw Valley University to the NCAA Tournaments. In her first season at Michigan State University, Merchant took the youngest team in the Big Ten to it’s seventh straight trip to the postseason, advanced to the championship game of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) and tied for the most wins (23) by a first-year Spartan basketball coach, men’s or women’s, in MSU history.
The following is Coach Merchant’s visiting itinerary open to the public at no charge
· All-school assembly at Traverse City East Middle School at 2:00 p.m.
· Peshawbetown Boys and Girls Club at the Medicine Lodge at 4:15 p.m.
· TC West Middle School at 6:00 p.m. for Moomer’s Ice Cream Social ($5 donation for adults and students K-12 are free)
Boys and Girls Club, with over 500 members, has two locations at Traverse City West Middle School and Peshawbetown. The non-profit program provides after school programs with research-based youth development strategies at both sites, year-round.
Please contact Sara Weatherholt at 995-4539 or weatherholt@bgcgt.org for additional information.