Hill’s Large Footprint Steadily Growing
Ron Bailey, Publisher
October 7, 2008 – What would you say if there was a guy who has had some level of impact on virtually every top basketball player to come out of the Washington, DC area in the last seven years? How about if this professional now trains some of the world’s top players? The response would probably be he’s “the man” or that the guy “is running things”, which in many cases equates to a controlling presence.
Well, there is a person who has worked tirelessly in DC/B’More and national/international hoops circles, but he doesn’t strive for recognition or control. He does it based on a love of the game and the people he works with. His name is Haniff Hill.
Haniff Hill is making a name for himself globally and locally.
“It’s about helping a lot of people” modestly shared Hill Sunday evening, of his motivation for getting into basketball training seven years ago, and also providing structured events for young people to become involved in.
“My first clients were guys in college, Lonnie (Baxter), Steve (Blake), Delonte (West) and other guys, who kept me for the year” recalled Hill of how he got started training basketball athletes. “I did if free for about two and a half years”.
That then ballooned into working with high school, college and professional basketball players; those he previously trained spread the good word. In terms of National Basketball Association pros, Hill continues to work with West and Blake, while adding Brandon Roy Al Harrington, Keith Bogans, Mike Beasley, and soon others, including Monta Ellis.
Regarding Americans competing internationally, Baxter, Brian Chase, Tony Skinn, Tre Kelly, Rodney White, David Hawkins, and Louis Bullock are all clients. “How I got into overseas stuff is Rodney White, David Hawkins and other players pay me to come over during the season, and it’s just grown” said Haniff of his entry into that arena.
Add Macabi Tel Aviv of the Israeli league, Greece’s Paini Panionois team, and work with both the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) and Korean Basketball Association (KBA) to his growing list of associations.
In the next several days Hill is again off to China, where he will assist the CBA’s Guang Dong franchise in training a 7’2” 17 year old standout there. This player, wanted by the likes of Duke and UCLA to play in college stateside, will work with Hill during an intensive six week, seven day a week development schedule. (Haniff has previous experience in China with the Guang Sha organization, training several members of the Chinese National Team).
When it comes to those presently holding amateur status, Hill identified current college standouts as Villanova’s Scotty Reynolds, Dante Cunningham and Dwayne Allen, North Carolina’s Tywon Lawson and Wayne Ellington, K-State Wildcats Jamar Samuels and Dominique Sutton, along with Tennessee’s Bobby Maze, Emmanuel Negedu, Cameron Tatum and Tyler Smith as those he’s trained. Pitt’s Sam Young, Seton Hall’s Jeremy Hazell, Duke’s Nolan Smith, Jeff Allen of Va Tech and a host of others have also taken advantage of Hill’s talents.
It goes even further. “High school on down, all the top local kids”, according to Hill, have spent time with him in the gym. “I have some of the top kids from seven to 18 or 19”.