Tennessee is not usually known to be a hotbed for travel softball. The state produces a team every year to send to Nationals but there hasn’t been a dominant organization that sent a team in every age group, until now. The Tennessee Fury Platinum team is changing things.
Jill and Jeremy Higdon co-founded Tennessee Fury in 2007. In 2014, they split off and formed Fury Platinum. It was because of their leadership and determination that Fury blossomed into one of the top clubs in the country. In 10 years, they have over 20 Top 10 finishes at ASA Nationals, two national championships, and six Top 10 finishes at the Colorado Fireworks and Independence Day Tournament in Colorado.
“We actually have an 11-year-old son,” Jeremy said. “We don’t have daughters. Jill and I started coaching high school softball together and from that got into travel ball. “
The couple got into the travel ball scene through a couple of their high school players when they needed a coach. Fury became a thought during that summer.
“We wanted to start a competitive organization in the southeast. That was kind of a dying thing at the time,” Jill said. “Jeremy grew up at the ballparks in Chattanooga with the Parker Eagles and the Frost Falcons. Whenever we got into travel ball it was pretty apparent that those organizations weren’t happening in the area. We started Fury with the intentions of officially having a full on, competitive organization.”
Prior to Fury, there would be good teams in each age group every year but once each team moved up, there wouldn’t be another with the same name to follow.
“There were always a handful of quality teams in Tennessee but then that one team that was really competitive from 12-u to 18-u but there wasn’t a team in an age group below that was benefitting from their success,” Jeremy said.
After coaching a summer of one of those really good teams, the couple decided it would be best to create an organization that would benefit from top to bottom. The teams would build off the successes of the others.
In 2009, Fury produced one of the most highly recruited teams in the country. Girls on that team included Kelsey Cartwright (Auburn), Katherine “Kat” Dotson (Tennessee), Megan Givens (Tennessee), Whitney Hammond (Tennessee), Ivy Renfroe (Tennessee) and Leah Taylor (Tennessee).
The first two years, Fury built a solid relationship with colleges. Some of those were because, at that time, college freshman could still play travel ball.
“When we split off and started Fury Platinum, we wanted to be sure that the Fury name and reputation remained at an elite level,” Jeremy said. “We had built one of the more successful organizations in the southeast and didn’t want to leave that name and reputation in the hands of someone else entirely.”
Almost every team the Higdon’s have produced has been a full roster of college commits. They have sent hundreds of athletes to college and give back to the community with their non-profit gym in Chattanooga.
“The number one priority was making sure that we were creating and providing opportunities for our kids to play at the next level,” Jeremy said. “That was the seed for all of this.”
