Tony Allen
Club Founder and CEO
Coach Allen was the coach of the original San Diego Sol women’s basketball team which compiled a win-loss record of 28-3 in the 1997-98 season, including a re-match win against the Chinese Jr. National Team. This Sol team was also the 1997 NWBL Regional Champion and National Runner Up. He has been a personal and sports fitness trainer and coach for over 30 years. His clients and teams have won numerous awards, titles and championships at every level from recreational to the professional.
E-mail: tallen@sandiegosol.com
Amy Cleveland
Club President
Coach Cleveland was an original member of the Sol women’s team. She played professionally in Germany for two seasons and was the conference’s 3rd leading scorer one of those seasons. Cleveland coached her Sol Senior Women’s team to the Gold Medal at the 2005 Senior National Games in Pittsburgh, PA. She also coached a 17u and a 15u youth team while playing in Germany. She set 21 individual records, including the career scoring record, while playing at Claremont McKenna College. She earned Conference honors all 4 years as well as All American Honors her senior season.
E-mail: coachcleveland@sandiegosol.com
Phone: (619) 933-7740
Coach Andrea Aguilar
Coach Aguilar was born and raised in San Diego where she participated in the first High School travel team for San Diego Sol. She played four years at Eastlake High School. Here she was Captain helping to lead her team to three League Championships while receiving; Coaches Award, and All league recognition. Aguilar played collegiate basketball at Southwestern;she was recognized for All-Conference, Athlete of the Week for Conference and State, Best Defensive and Offensive player awards. After redshirting a year at Dominguez Hills she began coaching girls’ basketball at Eastlake high School as a JV and Varsity assistant coach. From 2009-11 she was the Head Varsity Coach at Olympian High School in Chula Vista where she took her team to play-offs all three years. Coach Aguilar is currently attending National University where she is finishing her Master’s in Education and Mathematics Credential.
Coach Denise Bennett
Coach Bennett graduated from Santana High School where she led her team to two CIF championships and two league championships. She also earned her team’s MVP award for 2 consecutive years. Bennett played collegiate basketball at Cuyamaca where she earned First Team All League and was voted her team’s Defensive Player of the Year. She later transferred to Grossmont College and was again selected to All League honors. She is pursuing her masters degree at San Diego State Univeristy. Most recently she was the varsity assistant coach for Helix High School.
E-mail: coachbennett@sandiegosol.com
Coach Jennie Harris
Vice President of Operations
Coach Harris was a member of the original Sol women’s basketball team. Harris earned a scholarship to San Diego Christian College (formerly Christian Heritage College) to play both volleyball and basketball. Coach Harris captained her collegiate volleyball team to the National Championship her junior year. She was also a four year captain for her basketball team. During her senior year she led the nation in rebounding, averaging 18 per game. She graduated from SDCC in 1999, receiving a degree in Liberal Studies with an emphasis in Elementary Education.
E-mail: coachharris@sandiegosol.com
Phone: (858) 704-1025
Coach Spatticus Harris
Originally from Toronto, Canada Coach Harris came to California to attend San Diego Christian College (formerly Christian Heritage College). He played all 4 years at SDCC leading the Hawks to 2 National Championships (NCCAA). He earned 1st team All American honors and graduated with a degree in kinesiology. He is currently a full time coach for San Diego Sol. Coach Harris is married to Coach Jennie Harris and they have a 8 year old daughter and 5 year old son together.
E-mail: coachsharris@sandiegosol.com
Phone: (619) 971-4268
Coach Nate Heckman
Coach Heckman graduated from Cherry Creek High School in Englewood, Colorado, where he earned All State honors and was the team MVP and scoring leader. He continued his playing career in college as a four-year member of the NAIA Division I Point Loma Nazarene University squad. While he was at PLNU Coach Heckman met his wife, Sara, an original member of the San Diego Sol women’s team. He also was a member of the Track & Field team at PLNU, running the 200 meter sprint, relays, triple jump and high jump. Coach Heckman has coached youth and high school players at various camps and clinics across the country.
E-mail: coachheckman@sandiegosol.com
Phone: (908) 787-2974
Coach Cameron Koford
Coach Koford played college basketball at University of Utah under Rick Majerus where they won 2 conference championships and 2 appearances in NCAA tournament. He has spent the past five years playing professional basketball around the world in Portugal, China, Australia and Mexico. As a big man at 7’2 he has been a leading shot blocker and rebounder in various leagues helping win championships in Australia and Mexico. He played with the ABA team, Salt Lake Snow Bears who were the regular season champs only losing one game all year and most recently with the San Diego Sol ABA who were the Southern California divisional champions 2010-11. He has coached a variety of age groups for the premiere club Knox Basketball Inc. in Melbourne Australia. He has been married for 6 years and has a 4 year old daughter, 3 year old son and a new born son.
E-mail: coachkoford@sandiegosol.com
Coach Juilian Ota
Coach Ota graduated from John Marshall fundamental in Pasadena where he was a two year varsity guard in basketball and a two year varsity quarterback for football. Also, he ran track in the 4×4 event earning him the title of a three sport athlete while posting a 3.5 GPA. In his junior year he helped lead his basketball team to its most successful season in the past decade as they posted a 22-6 record before losing to Harvard Westlake in a semi finals match up, the furthest they have reached in tournament play. As a quarterback, Coach Ota led the team in all purpose yards and touchdowns in his senior season and was voted team MVP. Coach Ota recently graduated from SDSU with a degree in Comparative Literature.
E-mail: Coach Ota email
Phone: (626) 241-2532
Coach Jackie Turpin
Coach Turpin graduated from UC Davis in 2007 where she played basketball for four years, leading the team in assists, rebounds, steals, and points. She won Davis’ Heitman Award as outstanding female athlete of the year in 2006 for her performance not only in basketball but also track and field. She is originally from the San Diego area, having attended Santana High School from 1998-2002, where she led her team to 2 San Diego Section titles and 3 Grossmont League titles. In high school, she received Grossmont League MVP honors in 2002, and in the same year received their Sportsmanship award. She has also coached youth and high school players at camps and clinics at Maryland, UC Davis, UConn, Stanford, and Berkeley.
E-mail: coachturpin@sandiegosol.com
Coach Matt Vaughn
Coach Vaughn is a native of San Diego. He graduated from Scripps Ranch High School in 2001 where he was MVP all four years of high school and named 1st Team All CIF. He set the highschool record for making 55 freethrows in a row during a season. He went on to play collegiate basketball at a Division II school, Colorado Christian University. He was nominated as anAll American Candidate, named 1st Team All Conference, and was a quarter finalistsfor the Bob CousyAward for the top point guard in the nation. He currently holds the record at Colorado Christian University for the most steals ina season. Vaughn graduated in 2005 with a Business Degree majoring in Business Administration. After his collegiate career, Vaughn was drafted by the Dakota Wizards. He played professionally in China and Mexico and was invited to a tryout with the Phoenix Suns. He played in various pro-am summer leagues where he averaged 16 points per game. Coach Vaughn is currently a Coach with San Diego Sol and he individually trains youth and high school players on a regular basis.
