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**PROUD WINNER OF COLORADO PARENT MAGAZINE'S FAVORITE LOCAL YOUTH SPORTS PROGRAMS**
Language: English | Spanish

25th Season Stories – Taryn

Meet Taryn Brennan, Gold Crown Class of 2000. From falling in love with the game in middle school, to playing at the collegiate level, sports have always been part of her life.  Now, in her career, she still has team sports to thank and reflect on. See what an impact Gold Crown Basketball has made on her life.

GC: What is your favorite Gold Crown Basketball memory?
TB: When I think back to my Gold Crown days, I mostly remember and am most grateful for the chance to PLAY and get better. Had I not been placed on a team in the 6th grade, there is a good chance my basketball days would have been numbered. Gold Crown was the time and place where I fell in love with the sport of basketball and realized what impact it could have on my life.

GC: What was your path after high school?
TB: I graduated from Cherry Creek High School in 2004 and moved on to play collegiate basketball at Western State Colorado University and Seattle University.  I graduated from Western State University with a degree in Exercise and Sport Science.

GC: What are you doing now?
TB: With a strong love for health and fitness, I went back to school at Metropolitan State University of Denver for a second degree in Human Nutrition. I have been working at Children’s Hospital Colorado since 2013 as a dietitian working with kids with severe food allergies and gastrointestinal diseases. My passion for health and wellness has led me to also start my own private practice where I work with young athletes up to older adults who want to improve their health through nutrition.

GC: How did playing youth sports prepare you for your career today?
TB: When I was challenged as a youth with tough decisions, disappointments, hours of hard work, I learned how to be successful when it would have been easy to just give up. I learned how to communicate with teammates and trust and lean on them during hard times. Team sports taught me independence, discipline, how to win with respect and lose with poise, and it gave me a sense of community. Those lessons are all things I use today in my personal and work life and I truly believe that it prepared me to be the successful person I am today.

GC: Are sports still part of your life today?
TB: After playing college basketball I still had the desire to compete and didn’t want to stop playing team sports. I joined the Glendale Raptors Women’s Premier rugby team (now the Glendale Merlins) where I had the opportunity to travel around the country to play against the other top women’s rugby teams. I played competitive rugby for 8 years, tried out for the USA Women’s National team and was the captain of our 2015 National Championship Team.  That year we won “Team of the Year” from the Sportswomen of Colorado.

GC: What advice do you have for female youth basketball players?
TB: Don’t ever take advantage of the opportunity and ability you have to play such an amazing sport. Take pride in all the hard work you put in every day, because it will pay off! Take pride in your teammates and coaches, and work even harder for them, harder than you think is possible because you can’t be as successful without them. Be confident in your abilities and don’t let anyone ever tell you “you can’t” because trust me, you can!