Meet the Team

The Litchfields

Andrea and Christopher Litchfield, both Siena College graduates, and their daughters have been immersed in the world of sports as players, coaches and spectators for over 35 years combined. From school, AAU, and club teams to adult leagues and pick-up games, the family has enjoyed countless hours participating in the sports they love: volleyball, basketball, running, softball and lacrosse.

Their eldest daughter has experience in various sports-related fields including NCAA compliance, scheduling, promotions, team management, sales, coaching and social media marketing. She has interned with the Big East Conference for their media day at Madison Square Garden and is set to intern with them once again for their annual Big East Tournament. She is currently pursuing a degree in Communication with a concentration in sports.

For the past 15 years the family has owned and operated a local specialty contracting business. From a business and operational standpoint, the Litchfields have invaluable insight into the start-up, growth and running the day-to-day operations of a successful business. The Litchfield family has invested in the worlds of sports and business for decades and look forward to combining the two through Impact.

Impact Athletic Center is the realized dream of parents who desired a local facility for their athletes to call home. After years of traveling throughout the Capital Region from facility to facility for weekly practices and leagues, and years of traveling throughout the Northeast for tournaments, we simply desired a home base.

In 2016, Andrea approached Chris with the idea of opening an athletic facility locally. We were initially drawn to the idea of converting an existing space but could not find one to meet our vision. A bit disheartened, we paused the process until the property on Route 146 in Halfmoon went up for sale. In late fall of 2018 we closed on the property that would be the future home of Impact Athletic Center. During this process, it didn’t take long to realize that others in the Capital Region had a similar dream. We met with several like-minded individuals and two years later, we have an incredible team of owners working together to make this dream a reality.

Our vision for Impact goes beyond simply filling a gap in the sports and recreation industry locally. In addition to creating a first-class fitness destination, our goal is to foster and enhance community relationships through sports, recreation, social, volunteer and educational experiences. Through our diverse program offerings, we aim to positively impact every member of the family from 6 months old to 99 years of age (and counting).

Giving back and volunteering has always been a priority for our family. Therefore, when envisioning Impact Athletic Center, meeting the needs of our greater communities was always a part of the plan. In 2014, our family founded Loads of Love NY: A Laundry Project. The intention of this community organization was to focus on providing clean clothes, food and gift cards to the homeless population in the surrounding areas. However, we’ve expanded our reach and ways to help others in our community. A number of projects include hosting parties for children living with cancer, facilitating our yearly Socktober sock drive for the homeless, donating care packages to college students who have been through the foster care system and have aged out, making Thanksgiving food baskets for the food-insecure in our communities, donating gift cards to teachers to assist with back-to-school supplies, donating fence materials and the manpower for installation, and volunteering our time with local church groups and numerous other organizations.

Through Impact, we will implement an outreach program called AIM, An Impact Made. Through AIM, we intend to connect with local community-based organizations to see how we can be of assistance while still managing our already established programs. Additionally, new initiatives will be developed to help our community including a Medical Assistance Program.

The Huerters

Tom attended Siena College on an athletic scholarship to play Division I Men’s Basketball. In his Sophomore season, he led Siena to its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 1989 where the 14th-seeded Saints upset third-seeded Stanford in the first round, 80-78. After Siena, Tom has been coaching and leading youth sports for the past 25 years, namely youth baseball and boys and girls basketball teams. As a Team Manager in the Clifton Park Baseball League for 12 years, his highlight was leading his teams to the Cal Ripken World Series in Aberdeen, MD and Babe Ruth World Series in Moses Lake, WA. In addition, Tom lead the #12 seed Clifton Park Knights to the Championship Game of Week #4 in 2011 at Cooperstown Dreams Park, where they would lose to #3 seed East Cobb Titans (Georgia).

Among the players he coached, Ian Anderson, the 3rd overall pick for Atlanta Braves in 2016, and current MLB starting pitcher for the Braves, was on his teams throughout his youth career (8 yrs old – 16 yrs old).

Tom currently serves as President of the Girls Albany City Rocks AAU Basketball Organization where he has coached his daughters to numerous tournament championships (Rumble in the Bronx, Gym Rat Challenge (Platinum Division), Nike Championship – Chicago, Tournament of Champions – Atlanta). On the Boys side, Tom was previously a Board Member and Coach of the Boys Albany City Rocks AAU Basketball Organization. His experience with teaching boys and girls the fundamentals of basketball, teamwork and encouraging leadership skills and having organized tournament schedules, practice schedules and talked with college coaches about player recruitment makes him an ideal partner for Impact Athletic Center.Tom’s sports network includes interacting with hundreds of coaches in the high school and college basketball community through his 20-year career as Color Commentator for Men’s College Basketball games for Siena College and NYS High School Championship Basketball games for Time Warner/Spectrum.

When Tom wasn’t on the diamond or the basketball court or behind the microphone, he founded Huersch Marketing Group in 2001 from his basement home office. Today, Huersch Marketing Group is headquartered in a 55,000 square foot building in Green Island, NY. His printing, marketing, fulfillment and technology company works with both local, national and international companies.

Erin built a career at Pioneer Bank for more than 26 years after graduating from Siena College. As a Vice President, she worked in the 22 branch Retail Network, Human Resources and Operations areas of the bank headquartered in Albany, NY. In 2018, as the Huerter children, Thomas Jr., Kevin, Meghan and Jillian, became more active, Erin decided to retire from banking to focus on supporting family activities and eventually devote time to the partnership group in the realization of Impact Athletic Center.

Thomas Jr. graduated from Shenendehowa High School in 2015 and was the starting small forward on the 2015 NYSPHSAA Class AA Boys Basketball State Championship team. Following Shen, Thomas enrolled at Cheshire Academy in Cheshire, CT for a post graduate year and then attended Siena College on an athletic scholarship to play Men’s Basketball.

After earning his Bachelor’s degree in Business Management in 3 years, he attended The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, earning his Master’s of Science in Business while playing Men’s Basketball for his fourth and final year of eligibility. Thomas played his AAU basketball for Albany City Rocks. Thomas spent his summers in high school and college working youth basketball camps as a counsellor and camp commissioner. Thomas currently works for Huersch Marketing Group and is involved in the planning for Impact Athletic Center.

Kevin was the starting point guard as a junior on the 2015 NYSPHSAA Class AA Boys Basketball State Championship team and in his senior year, Kevin was the starting center fielder on the 2016 NYSPHSAA Class AA Baseball State Championship team. Kevin was named 2016 New York State Mr. Basketball and was the 2015-2016 Gatorade NYS Boys Basketball Player of the Year as a senior.

After Kevin graduated from Shenendehowa in 2016, he attended the University of Maryland playing Men’s Basketball on an athletic scholarship. After 2 years, Kevin decided to enter his name in the NBA draft and on June 21, 2018, Kevin was drafted to the Atlanta Hawks with the 19th overall pick. He was named to the 2018-19 2nd team NBA All-Rookie Team.

Kevin averages 29 mins per game, shoots 38.3% from 3 pt while averaging almost 11 pts per game. Kevin earned admittance to the Robert H. Smith School of Business at UMD and expects to graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing in May 2023. Kevin played his AAU basketball for Albany City Rocks, playing in the Nike EYBL circuit on his 17U team. Kevin is an investor in Impact Athletic Center and plans to be actively engaged in running various programs and Huerter Foundation Events at Impact.

Meghan graduated from Shenendehowa in June 2021. She is a member of the Women’s Basketball team at Providence College in Rhode Island on an athletic scholarship, studying business. Meghan also played Girls Lacrosse for Shen for 3 years. She started her AAU Basketball career in the 3rd grade with the Saratoga Sparks and more recently has played for the Albany City Rocks Girls program. Meghan has been part of the Shenendehowa Girls Basketball program that won Class AA Section 2 titles in 3 out of the past 4 years. (2017,2019, 2020).

Jillian will graduate from Shenendehowa in 2022. Her college search and recruitment are currently underway as Jillian already holds numerous Division I athletic scholarship offers. Following in the footsteps of her older siblings, Jillian hopes to play college basketball at the highest level. She started playing her AAU basketball for Saratoga Sparks in the 3rd grade, followed by Albany City Rocks in later years. In addition to basketball, Jillian played Girls Lacrosse for Shen for 3 years. Jillian has been a part of the Shenendehowa Girls Basketball program that won Class AA Section 2 titles in back-to-back years (2019, 2020).

Our family was drawn to the Impact Athletic Center project for many reasons. First, we loved the idea of making a difference in the community we have lived in for over 25 years. We are excited to be partnering with local families to realize our collective dreams. Our family has always been passionate about sports, it was an easy decision for us to put our combined energies into Impact. Impact is the type of project that is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We’ve gone to different providers in various locations for athletic training, recovery, skills development, team practice, etc. With Impact, this will all be possible under one roof. In addition, it will be a place to gather with friends and teammates to decompress and nourish our bodies.

Our goals for Impact include being a destination where athletes of all levels and interests will have a place to go and work on their mind, body and soul. We want to be the location that people of all ages feel at home and want to visit for their own reasons. We believe we can make a difference in the lives of many and are excited to create a Foundation that can benefit kids and athletes with special needs.

The McLeods

Grantley and Joyce McLeod have resided in Halfmoon NY since 1989. Grantley grew up in the finger lakes region and Joyce grew up locally in Niskayuna. Grantley is a graduate of Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary and Joyce is a graduate of Hampton University in Virginia. The McLeod family also includes one son Grantley II, who currently resides in Florida with his family. As spectators on the sidelines while their son was growing up in Halfmoon, Joyce and Grantley have been a part of multiple sports from kindergarten through college as they watched him play for decades. Several years ago, Grantley and Joyce founded Harmony Fellowship Church. For 14 years, they have initiated many successful community outreach programs in Schenectady, and they look forward to sharing what they have learned with the Impact Athletic Team.

The McLeods became involved with Impact Athletics through the Litchfield family, who shared their dream of building a local sports facility—a facility that would offer diverse programming and could positively impact every member of the family. They loved the idea of being a part of this unique opportunity to provide much-needed services in their community. Impact Athletics will be a multi-purpose facility: one which will provide essential services such as childcare and educational offerings in addition to its recreational services. With over eight years of basketball coaching experience, Grantley looks forward to mentoring coaches who are up and coming. Most importantly, the ability to give back to the community through service events, which benefit the region, solidified their interest in becoming a part of this project.