Chattanooga: Patriots make team sports possible for area home-schoolers

David and Angie Ambrosetti always hoped their kids would be involved in sports in school.

It was a concern for the family when the eldest of their six children, Ryan, came home from sixth grade begging to be home-schooled.

But Ryan flourished under the home schooling — academically and in sports. The Ambrosettis founded the Chattanooga Patriots home-school athletic teams, which expanded to include girls’ basketball, tennis and girls’ soccer this past school year.

The program, which also includes boys’ soccer and baseball, is overseen by the Chattanooga/Southeast Tennessee Home Education Association, which reaches into northwestern Georgia and northeastern Alabama. It is the only high school athletic team program for home-schoolers in the immediate Chattanooga area.

About 2.4 million students nationwide were home-schooled in 2006, according to the National Home Education Research Institute. About 1,800 families are represented by CSTHEA.

In 2005, the TSSAA permitted member schools to play secondary schools in regular-season competition, but home-school students cannot participate in sports activities as members of public school teams. Only 14 states allow home-schoolers to play on public school teams, according to the Home School Legal Defense Association.

Basketball BEGINNINGS

The Patriots boys’ basketball team ended its second year with a 25-16 record and a national title. In February, the Patriots won the inaugural National Association of Christian Athletes home-school championship in Dayton, Ohio.

The team defeated Landmark Christian of Cincinnati 63-48, and Ryan Ambrosetti was named tournament most valuable player, while Adam Ambrosetti and Trenton Anderson were all-tournament selections.

“This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” Adam, 16, said soon afterward. “Being able to play for a high school program and be home-schooled, it’s a great opportunity to get noticed. Last year no one really knew we existed, but this year we got our name out and worked hard over the summer. Having more experience this year helped a lot and having more game experience. We can compete with anyone now.”

Ryan, 18, received offers to play at Covenant College and Bryan College but hopes to walk on at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where he will attend with a full academic scholarship.

He made his sixth-grade plea for home schooling, he said, after other students mocked his faith and his belief in creationism. His parents pursued his wish, though they were hesitant because they wanted their children to be able to play varsity sports. Ryan and Adam grew up playing basketball and dreamed of playing in college.

In 2005, educated through a combination of online, correspondence and independent classroom schools, Ryan and Adam played basketball through a program at North Georgia Christian. The team lasted two years, disbanding once its senior class graduated. The Ambrosetti boys also played on AAU basketball teams.

“They wanted a team, something they could call their own,” their father said. “AAU is great for the boys, but it’s somewhat limited on what team you can get on. There were a lot of home-school teams in other bigger cities like Knoxville, Nashville, Atlanta and Memphis, but Chattanooga didn’t have one. There was talk for the last five or six years of different people stepping up and starting a team, and it just never panned out.”

Then the Chattanooga Patriots team was born. Angie, a homemaker, found an available gym at First Church of the Nazarene, and the church board allowed the team to rent the facility for games and practices. The team is insured through CSTHEA.

David, a contractor who is a partner at A&T Construction, helped renovate the gym and took on the position of head coach. The Patriots found sponsors and parents to help with concessions and tickets. Fifty boys showed up to try out for the inaugural season. The Patriots do most of their recruiting at the Home Education Expo, which will be held July 18-19 at Camp Jordan Arena this year.

Word spread about the Patriots, and they fielded a girls’ basketball team with 11 players this past year to help expand their schedule: Most bigger schools that wanted to play the boys’ team couldn’t unless the Patriots also had a girls’ team for doubleheaders. This year’s schedule included games against Maryville Christian, Georgia Cumberland, Hamilton Heights and Tennessee Christian.

“Even starting our girls’ team this year, a lot of the parents — after two, three or four games,” Angie said, “came to us and said, ‘We thought this would be more like Upward. We had no idea the competition level was so high or the strenuous schedule that you guys play.”

Spring sports

At the conclusion of the inaugural Patriots basketball season, spring sports began to emerge.

Julie Simons, of Lookout Mountain, Ga., approached Angie Ambrosetti about starting a baseball team. The program fell together in time for a spring season, with a home field at Rivermont Park and a coach, Tony Stevens, who played in the Minnesota Twins organization for six years before joining the Marines after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and serving three tours of duty in Iraq.

The team has played junior varsity teams from TSSAA schools such as Tyner, McCallie and Chattanooga Christian, while playing the varsity from Hamilton Heights and home-school teams from Nashville; Huntsville, Ala.; Atlanta and South Carolina.

Simons’ sons Brian, 17, and K.C., 15, grew up around baseball, and the sport brought the family to the Chattanooga area from Florida. The boys’ father, Doug, is a former major league pitcher and the coach of the two-year-old Covenant College team.

The Simons boys played basketball and joined about half that squad on the baseball team.

“We thought it was strange that Chattanooga didn’t have anything, a program like this, for home-schooled kids,” Julie Simons said. “It fell together pretty quickly. Since we had a coach and a field, we decided to do it.”

After the first year, Stevens became a Covenant assistant coach and former Covenant player David Ottolini took over the baseball Patriots this year. But he was finishing requirements for graduation and planning to head home to St. Louis to be a youth pastor, so the Patriots program wants a long-term coach and hopes to enter the Homeschool World Series tournament next year.

“He was gracious enough to step in for the year,” Julie Simons said. “Next year, we hope to find someone for the long term.”

There was a home-school soccer club team for a few years before it joined the Patriots banner two years ago, and interest in the team has grown since. The boys’ soccer squad increased by three this year to 19 players, coordinator Yoli Bell said. As with TSSAA schools, girls play in the fall and the boys’ team competes in the spring.

A girls’ tennis program began this year. The CSTHEA contacted Tommy Lile about starting a home-school tennis program last November. Lile moved to Chattanooga from Jacksonville, Fla., earlier this year to be closer to his daughter Sara and headed up the program this spring. There were not enough players available to form a boys’ team this year.

There were eight players on the girls’ tennis roster, including Cleveland and Dayton residents who drove to practice at the Standifer Gap tennis courts, the team’s home base. The team played varsity teams from Collegedale Academy, Tennessee Christian, Sequatchie County and Soddy-Daisy and finished 4-3.

Lile and his daughter also run several community-based tennis programs year-round.

“We’re planning on continuing what we’re doing and hopefully have a boys’ team next year,” Lile said. “The community is a little more aware of what we’re doing now. It was a little difficult to start things up, but the season was great, the girls here are great and the community is great.”