For much of Crystal McCrary’s life, basketball was not present. She ran track, played volleyball, played tennis, but not basketball. She studied English as an undergrad at Michigan and went into entertainment law, even though writing was her true passion. It was not until later in life that she received her crash course in basketball. Over time, it has become a major facet of her life. She even wrote a novel, Homecourt Advantage, that was a New York Times bestseller, which touches on the romantic and family lives of NBA players.

Crystal has three children, Cole, who currently plays in the NBA for the Orlando Magic, Ella, who currently attends Harvard College, and Leo, her youngest. All of her children played basketball growing up in Manhattan and Crystal developed a thorough understanding of how things were done in the world of youth basketball in New York City, in addition to the NBA.

Under her supervision, Cole went from playing as a super beginner at age five with Yorkville, a little more advanced with Fast Break, then New Heights, then NY Rens, then Team Rio out of New Jersey, and finally in the EYBL for PSA Cardinals.

“I really saw it all from his side,” McCrary said.

Ella also played competitively growing up, including winning a state championship in high school and a stint at New Heights. Leo, now 11 years old, plays for the Riverside Hawks, a storied AAU program that boasts Metta World Peace and Donovan Mitchell as alumni. Hector Almodovar, coach of the Hawks, also coached Leo’s older brother Cole, Jose Alvarado (New Orleans Pelicans) and Kemba Walker, among many other D1 players.

“I had a lot of experience as a parent and as a consumer in this space,” McCrary said. “So for like the last 10-plus years, I was one of those parents that was constantly fielding phone calls, requests, emails, texts, etc…‘Can you make a recommendation for a team, for a program?’...all sorts of questions about how parents can navigate this youth basketball landscape.”

Through her experience and the amount of confused parents reaching out to her, Crystal realized that the information available about youth basketball programs is really fragmented, making it difficult for people to understand which programs would be the best fit.

“There's not like a one-stop shopping place where a parent can go in, put in their kid’s age, gender, where they live and come back with programs, teams, camps, clinics, etc. found for your kid,” McCrary said. “That was really how I got this idea as Cole and I were talking about it: ‘Maybe we should put this in on a platform’. And GameUp was born.”

Co-founded by McCrary and her son Cole, GameUp launched in September of 2023 and is still in the beta stage, currently only functioning in the tri-state area. Parents and players can input into the GameUp system and find recommendations for teams, programs, and clinics. GameUp also offers a concierge service for parents and players that want more detailed information and higher-level consultation rather than just getting recommended to a team or a program.

According to McCrary, the eventual goal is scaling GameUp across the U.S. and to be active in every youth basketball market. She has built a team to help her accomplish this mission.

“We will be ready to expand across the US by fourth quarter 2024,” McCrary said.

McCrary has experienced many highlights on the journey to bring GameUp to life.

“​​Some of the highlights for me as an entrepreneur in this space, as well as a basketball mom, are really getting to meet and know other youth basketball parents who are so passionate about their children's development and success on the court, and to really learn about what their concerns are,” McCrary said. “It has been instructive and also fascinating for me to see what the areas of interest are for parents in this space, as we grow this business model. And it's also been gratifying to be able to help place a lot of young athletes on teams, with trainers, with clinics, and with opportunities.”

Outside of helping families and young athletes, GameUp also includes a philanthropic portion, which McCrary feels is the most gratifying part of what they are doing.

“We created the GameUp Youth Basketball Scholarship in partnership with Cole’s 50 Ways Foundation, where we help eliminate the financial barrier for families who would like their kids to play on these travel teams, but the expenses have just gotten higher and higher, so that a lot of parents can't even afford,” McCrary said. “We've been able to help alleviate a lot of economic barriers from families by covering all of their expenses associated with their kids playing on a travel team. It's small scale, not like some massive scholarship, like a D1 scholarship. But it's really gratifying to help families and eliminate that barrier for their kids.”

Starting GameUp in New York was a natural decision for Crystal and Cole, not only because it is home to them, but also because it is a place where so many great players have come from. There are also a lot of storied and long-tenured youth programs active in the city. McCrary references coaches such as Book Richardson, trainers such as Chris Brickley, and players such as Naz Reid as examples of individuals who have seen recent high-level success stemming from their experiences in the New York basketball scene.

“I'm very proud of the grassroots basketball programs throughout New York City that have developed so many incredible players,” McCrary said. “There's a great basketball tradition in New York City. I couldn't be prouder to start it in New York City, for all of the obvious reasons, being familiar with it, but also because it's an incredible basketball Mecca.”

McCrary is also a big advocate of playing basketball on a local level, particularly as a youth player. She notes how essential it is for kids to play locally as much as possible if they hope to excel on the national circuit and hope to play in college someday.

“If you have any hopes of playing in college, it's critical that you play at a local level first,” McCrary said. “There's a roadmap to put yourself in a position to play in college basketball. And it begins at the youth basketball level.”

Additionally, she notes a shift over the last 10-15 years of kinds being focused on one sport as opposed to two to four, since often there are AAU tournaments active 11 months out of the year, which does not leave much room for additional practices. Crystal notes Jalen Suggs and Charlie Ward as exceptions.

In terms of influence, McCrary lists her mom as her biggest inspiration.

“She's 98 years old now and lives in Michigan where I came from, but she was a Detroit public elementary school teacher, then principal back in the day,” McCrary said. “There was one teacher in a classroom with 40 students and she got up and went to work every day, made us all paper bag lunches to take to school ourselves and was at home in time to cook dinner. And we didn't know what Postmates, cell phones, or going out to dinner was. She managed to get it all done.”

Crystal’s mother provided a model on the importance of youth education from an early age and inspired her sister and her to work hard and be their best selves.

“She's a hard worker,” McCrary said. “She's smart. She's an avid reader and incredibly kind, and she really just has such a positive outlook on life.”

Even with GameUp gaining traction, McCrary still has much else happening in her life. Her main job is being a filmmaker and the vast majority of her films have absolutely nothing to do with basketball. With her new company, Get To Yes Productions, Crystal is producing a piece on track & field Olympian Allyson Felix. She is also doing one called The Drug in our Pocket about the harmful effects of social media told through a youth perspective. Just recently, she completed directing a short documentary for the Legal Defense Fund on the 70th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education.

Other projects of hers, however, do have much more direct tie-in to the basketball world. In the past, she directed Nickelodeon Sports docu-series on Cole’s experience in youth basketball (Little Ballers) and Skylar Diggins and her AAU team in Indiana (Little Ballers Indiana).

McCrary tends to look at projects from a lens that mirrors aspects of her own life.

“Art imitates life, life imitates art,” McCrary said. “We often write and create stories about what we know about, what we have proximity to. And so as it relates specifically to basketball, basketball has been such a big part of my family's life, just in terms of people close to me playing the game that it's bled into other aspects of my life: the creative side, the entrepreneurial side, the philanthropic side. And it has felt in many respects, like a natural extension of my family's love for the game.”

Photos Courtesy of Crystal McCrary