Ryan Thornton

As founder of Basketball Skills Academy, Ryan Thornton has designed a program that is an outgrowth of his passion for the game.His background includes over 25 years of basketball experience via high school at Farragut Career Academy in Chicago IL to Southwest Missouri State University where he earned All-Missouri Valley Conference honors.He took part in the NIT and NCAA tournaments and later played professional basketball in the CBA, Japan and Germany and toured nationally with the Chicago Pro-AM All-stars.Ryan was relocated to Minnesota 10 years ago via Financial Operations at Thomson West in Eagan, Minnesota.Over the years, he has volunteered in many capacities.As Program Coordinator of Team Minnesota, he won Volunteer of the Year at Hospitality House Youth Directions in 2003 for his efforts in building one of the top club teams in the country.He has coached youth in the Twin Cities area the past six years, and has trained over 25 athletes who went on to earn college scholarships, several who were Minnesota Mr. Basketball candidates.Ryan just finished up his third year as Junior Varsity head coach at Minneapolis South High School.