directors
David Adelman
Adelman served as an assistant coach at the Division 1 level for Loyola University Chicago and Duquesne University for seven years. He then moved on as an assistant at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point where he helped Coach Jack Bennett lead the Pointers to a 45-10 record, two Conference Championships and an NCAA appearance.
Adelman was then afforded an opportunity to be an Assistant Coach and General Manager of the Westchester Wildfire, a new franchise in the USBL (United States Basketball League) in 2001. He assisted former New York Knick John Starks in leading the Wildfire to back-to-back winning seasons and a 20-12 record and final four playoff appearance in its first year. Adelman also served as an assistant coach for the nationally ranked St Raymonds HS program in New York where he helped St Raymonds win the City Championship and finish third in the State in 2004.
Adelman has also coached Internationally in the prestigious World Maccabiah Games winning three gold medals (2 in the Pan American Games) and a Silver Medal in the 2009 World Maccabiah Games. Adelman also gained international coaching experience by taking a collection of professional basketball players to compete in Denmark against traditional powers: Hapoel Jerusalem, Eiffel Towers, Alba, Krka and Besiktas.
Ron Christians
Coach Ron Christians has worked with Play Hard Hoops is entering his fourth year and has directed several of the Play Hard Hoops programs. Ron is a native of Wauconda, where he was an All-Area Player at Wauconda HS before playing four years at Loras College in Iowa. Ron has coached with the Wauconda Feeder program and is a tremendous communicator and teacher. His energy as a coach has helped continue to boost Play Hard Hoops into the premier youth basketball program in Chicago. Ron will continue as the director of programs at Canlan Sportsplex, Volo Sportsplex & the Ela Sports Center.
Jared Ashe
FULL TIME COACH/ASSISTANT DIRECTOR – JARED ASHE
Contact: coachj@playhardhoops.com
Coach J-Bone is in his 3rd season as a Full-Time Director where he leads the PHH City Program. Coach J is the director of the Warriors Travel Program in the City and is the top coach and administrator for PHH. He is also involved in the day-to-day growth and direction of our programming.
He has been part of our program the past 5 years, beginning as a Part-Time Coach where he quickly became a PHH Favorite. Jared has also spent the last four years as a coach at Mount Carmel HS leading their Sophomore Team to an undefeated 15-0 Catholic League championship and 27-7 overall record in the 2019-2020 after a 20-6 championship run with the MC freshmen team in 2018-2019. He is now a lead assistant with MC’s varsity squad, which has sent many players to the college level. Ashe has AAU Travel coaching experience, spending two summers as the Head Coach of the 14U Chicago Lockdown teams that compete nationally. He kicked off his coaching career at Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, leading their 7th grade team.
Ashe was a decorated college basketball and soccer player at Wesleyan University in Connecticut where he was a Division III All-American Soccer Player and Captain of both the basketball and soccer teams. Upon graduation from Wesleyan he was hired by Lazard, an asset management firm, where he worked for almost 10 years between their New York and Chicago offices.
Fortunately, Jared decided to follow his passion and pursue a career in coaching/teaching. “Coach J” has been a tremendous addition to Play Hard Hoops where he shares the PHH Vision of teaching boys and girls the fundamentals of basketball while also being a great mentor who believes in teaching kids more than just basketball.