Meet the Coach
Our Director: Khalil Sikander
With over 2 decades of experience in both women’s and men’s basketball in the high school and AAU basketball, Coach Khalil Sikander expertise in developing student athletes through what he calls an Empire State of Mind. A native of Brooklyn, New York, Khalil is driven to build student athletes through a culture that focuses on the process in which players are taught to control the uncontrollable in uncomfortable game like settings. Khalil’s professional development and knowledge have come from a wide range of experiences.With his experience playing junior college basketball, division one basketball, being a youth basketball director, a high school head coach while also coaching under some of the greatest minds in New York and Utah, these experiences have given him the ability to give back to the youth he truly loves to lead. The knowledge he has obtained has been developed through learning from his mentor Mike Senior (The Selvyn Smith Memorial Sports And Educational Program in Brooklyn, NY) who he has coach over 50+ professionals and hundreds of NCAA athletes. His other mentor and AAU coach Bill Calhoun (Fordham University, Bronx New York) gave him his first opportunity to play in big time tournaments that got him the exposure to chase his dream of playing division one basketball.
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In Utah he has had the opportunity to work with and under Todd Phillips (SLCC, Utah Valley University Head Coach) John Wardenburg (Brigham Young University, men’s and women), Randy McAllister (Pleasant Grove High School, Retired ), Brian Allfrey (Copper Hills High) and many more. With this incredible resume Khalil in his own experience has manage to coach many high-level high school athletes who have gone on and played collegiately while coaching at Utah Basketball Club (men) and Utah Storm (women), Utah Prospects (womens) AAU programs. He has had success as a high school women’s head coach in Utah at both Lehi and Skyridge Highs Schools becoming a region coach of the year 3 times, a region champion 3 times and appearing in the state playoffs 5 times and reaching the semi-final 3 out of the 7 years he was a head coach.
Khalil is recognized for propelling performance to unprecedented levels through hands on leadership, his competitive training and development initiatives. He is talented in applying player and program assessment to optimize individual player for overall team development. Khalil has always been great in achieving the trust and confidence of parents, school administrators, and the community as he is willing to have the hard conversations many are afraid to have. He actively employs superior communication and team building skills. Khalil experiences at all levels of the game with dealing with assistant coaches and working with volunteers, community, district members and referees separates him from the crowd. He thrives on challenging opportunities and is the reason he started Utah Basketball Club women’s program. He wants to bring the purity of the game back he feels is missing. This is why Utah Basketball Club is in good hands.
Coach Sikander
The Teacher, Speaker and Best Selling Author
Though Coach Sikander spends a lot of his time in the gym with his own family and the children of others, he knows that there is more to this game than putting the ball in the hoop. In his spare time, Coach Sikander is a speaker and author who wants to inspire the next generations to chase their dreams and goals. This game will stop at some point and you must know what to do when that time comes. As a 4x bestselling author in which he has his own solo book called “Empire State of Mind, the 5 keys to Unlock Mental Toughness”, Coach Sikander share his personal story on what it takes to be mentally tough to be successful not just in sports but in life. Coach currently has his second book in editing as well called “Spread Love It’s The Brooklyn Way.” A book about his foundation of where he comes from and how his upbringing in Brooklyn, New York can help change the school system. Grab yourself a copy of these books to truly get to know who Coach Sikander is and get a glimpse of why he does what he does.
