University of Georgia Athletics
Balerios Bonded Through Food, Basketball
October 15, 2024 | General, Women's Basketball, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Two topics that put a big smile on Tahnee Balerio's face are basketball and food. They're both key parts of who she is, and they both take her back home to her childhood in Kansas, where she was surrounded by family.
Balerio's father, Andres — "Everyone calls him Andy," she said — came with his parents and other family members from Mexico to the United States. Her grandfather and others came to work on the railroad.
"It's a cool story, but that's how we ended up in Kansas," Balerio, Georgia women's basketball's associate head coach, said. "They could have ended up in Texas or Oklahoma or anywhere, but they ended up in Kansas, in kind of the middle of nowhere."
It was in Kansas that Balerio's parents, Andy and Sue, met. It's there that they raised Tahnee and her sister Annalisa, while extended family members lived all around them. The railroad that some Balerios worked on, the railroad that was the catalyst for them coming to the U.S., it was an everyday part of their lives.
"The railroad literally goes through the backyard at my grandma's house," Balerio said. "So every time I went over there, trains would be going by, shaking the whole house. They never moved, and my uncle, my dad's twin brother, actually still lives there."
Today is the final day of National Hispanic American Heritage Month, which runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. The unusual start-finish dates coincide with the Independence Day celebrations of several Latin American nations. For Balerio, her heritage is, like basketball and food, a big part of who she is. When she's asked to describe herself as a basketball player, Balerio said her roots shined through.
"I was very passionate — I'm still kind of like that. I was a pass-first point guard. I loved passing. I loved getting excited. I talked a little trash here and there, too," she said with a laugh. "I was, you could tell I was a little Hispanic, had a little attitude, a little sassy, you know; I'd talk a little trash. The other team probably didn't like me, yeah, but my teammates loved me because I was fighting for them."
Balerio's father fell in love with basketball and passed that passion on to her. It's a love that's as strong as ever, for both of them. Andy walked on at a small college in Kansas and later was a high school coach for more than 25 years.
As a senior at Buhler High School in Kansas, Balerio was the star point guard — and her dad was the coach. She averaged 17.4 points and 6.9 assists per game and was named to the Kansas all-state first team after the season, but that doesn't mean it was always smooth sailing between father and daughter.
"Sometimes, we would come home (from a game or practice), and we would be eating dinner, and my mom's like, 'Oh, something happened today,'" Balerio said with a laugh. "Me and my dad were like the same person, and then my sister and my mom were very similar. So it was like, my dad and I were very competitive, you know, we wanted to be right sometimes, and so we would (butt heads).
"He was really hard on me. He was harder on me than everybody else, so that sometimes we would get a little mad at each other. But it would last about a day, and then we'd be over it."
After her great prep career, Balerio went on to become one of the best players ever to suit up for Missouri State (2004-08). As a junior, she led the Missouri Valley Conference in scoring with 18.5 points per game. She also led her team in eight other statistical categories that season. In 2024, she was inducted into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame.
The father-daughter/coach-player relationship evolved while Balerio was playing in college. He was just her biggest fan.
"You would think he would be trying to coach me in college. He never said a word to me in college about my games, about what I needed to do better," she said. "He was like, 'You got coaches that are better than me. I'm not gonna tell you nothing.' So he never put that pressure and all that type of stuff on me in college, which was nice. He was pretty much a fan, which I liked."
Balerio played for Georgia coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson at Missouri State, where Coach ABE won three MVC tournaments and a pair of conference regular-season crowns. After Balerio graduated, she coached some high school ball before joining Coach ABE's staff. This will be her 14th season working with her former head coach.
And her dad is still her biggest fan.
"He loved that I got into coaching," she said. "He's always like, 'Oh, you're way better — you know way more than me. He's really proud, and he likes coming to the games.
"He's always loved Coach ABE, and the fact that she got me in the business and took care of me and everything, and now we're still together like a family, he likes that too."
After games now, Andy types out long messages on his iPad with his thoughts on what went well, Balerio said. He really keeps an eye on the point guards — he should know, he raised a great one.
Along with bonding over basketball, Balerio and her father have shared a lifelong love of food. While his cooking wasn't quite at the extraordinary level of some other family members, she said, he was "a great cook. He could just whip up anything."
"I grew up pretty much eating what my dad cooked, and I thought it was just normal food," she added. "Then I go off to college and I'm like, Oh, y'all don't eat this. I just grew up eating a lot of Hispanic food."
Balerio's father put jalapeños, green onions and cilantro on everything, which meant she did too. Whatever he cooked, including enough beans to last for days, the family would enjoy. But the cooking genes weren't really passed down to Balerio, in part because a college basketball coach isn't home for dinner all that often.
"A coach's schedule doesn't lend itself to being a great cook. Really, I just make tacos, like a lot of ground beef stuff. But I also, I add jalapeños, green onions and cilantro to everything. I even do it with pizza. ... That's our pizza, ground beef and jalapeños."
In pizza and in basketball, like father, like daughter. And Balerio wouldn't have it any other way.
Staff Writer
Two topics that put a big smile on Tahnee Balerio's face are basketball and food. They're both key parts of who she is, and they both take her back home to her childhood in Kansas, where she was surrounded by family.
Balerio's father, Andres — "Everyone calls him Andy," she said — came with his parents and other family members from Mexico to the United States. Her grandfather and others came to work on the railroad.
"It's a cool story, but that's how we ended up in Kansas," Balerio, Georgia women's basketball's associate head coach, said. "They could have ended up in Texas or Oklahoma or anywhere, but they ended up in Kansas, in kind of the middle of nowhere."
It was in Kansas that Balerio's parents, Andy and Sue, met. It's there that they raised Tahnee and her sister Annalisa, while extended family members lived all around them. The railroad that some Balerios worked on, the railroad that was the catalyst for them coming to the U.S., it was an everyday part of their lives.
"The railroad literally goes through the backyard at my grandma's house," Balerio said. "So every time I went over there, trains would be going by, shaking the whole house. They never moved, and my uncle, my dad's twin brother, actually still lives there."
Today is the final day of National Hispanic American Heritage Month, which runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. The unusual start-finish dates coincide with the Independence Day celebrations of several Latin American nations. For Balerio, her heritage is, like basketball and food, a big part of who she is. When she's asked to describe herself as a basketball player, Balerio said her roots shined through.
"I was very passionate — I'm still kind of like that. I was a pass-first point guard. I loved passing. I loved getting excited. I talked a little trash here and there, too," she said with a laugh. "I was, you could tell I was a little Hispanic, had a little attitude, a little sassy, you know; I'd talk a little trash. The other team probably didn't like me, yeah, but my teammates loved me because I was fighting for them."
Balerio's father fell in love with basketball and passed that passion on to her. It's a love that's as strong as ever, for both of them. Andy walked on at a small college in Kansas and later was a high school coach for more than 25 years.
As a senior at Buhler High School in Kansas, Balerio was the star point guard — and her dad was the coach. She averaged 17.4 points and 6.9 assists per game and was named to the Kansas all-state first team after the season, but that doesn't mean it was always smooth sailing between father and daughter.
"Sometimes, we would come home (from a game or practice), and we would be eating dinner, and my mom's like, 'Oh, something happened today,'" Balerio said with a laugh. "Me and my dad were like the same person, and then my sister and my mom were very similar. So it was like, my dad and I were very competitive, you know, we wanted to be right sometimes, and so we would (butt heads).
"He was really hard on me. He was harder on me than everybody else, so that sometimes we would get a little mad at each other. But it would last about a day, and then we'd be over it."
After her great prep career, Balerio went on to become one of the best players ever to suit up for Missouri State (2004-08). As a junior, she led the Missouri Valley Conference in scoring with 18.5 points per game. She also led her team in eight other statistical categories that season. In 2024, she was inducted into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame.
The father-daughter/coach-player relationship evolved while Balerio was playing in college. He was just her biggest fan.
"You would think he would be trying to coach me in college. He never said a word to me in college about my games, about what I needed to do better," she said. "He was like, 'You got coaches that are better than me. I'm not gonna tell you nothing.' So he never put that pressure and all that type of stuff on me in college, which was nice. He was pretty much a fan, which I liked."
Balerio played for Georgia coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson at Missouri State, where Coach ABE won three MVC tournaments and a pair of conference regular-season crowns. After Balerio graduated, she coached some high school ball before joining Coach ABE's staff. This will be her 14th season working with her former head coach.
And her dad is still her biggest fan.
"He loved that I got into coaching," she said. "He's always like, 'Oh, you're way better — you know way more than me. He's really proud, and he likes coming to the games.
"He's always loved Coach ABE, and the fact that she got me in the business and took care of me and everything, and now we're still together like a family, he likes that too."
After games now, Andy types out long messages on his iPad with his thoughts on what went well, Balerio said. He really keeps an eye on the point guards — he should know, he raised a great one.
Along with bonding over basketball, Balerio and her father have shared a lifelong love of food. While his cooking wasn't quite at the extraordinary level of some other family members, she said, he was "a great cook. He could just whip up anything."
"I grew up pretty much eating what my dad cooked, and I thought it was just normal food," she added. "Then I go off to college and I'm like, Oh, y'all don't eat this. I just grew up eating a lot of Hispanic food."
Balerio's father put jalapeños, green onions and cilantro on everything, which meant she did too. Whatever he cooked, including enough beans to last for days, the family would enjoy. But the cooking genes weren't really passed down to Balerio, in part because a college basketball coach isn't home for dinner all that often.
"A coach's schedule doesn't lend itself to being a great cook. Really, I just make tacos, like a lot of ground beef stuff. But I also, I add jalapeños, green onions and cilantro to everything. I even do it with pizza. ... That's our pizza, ground beef and jalapeños."
In pizza and in basketball, like father, like daughter. And Balerio wouldn't have it any other way.
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
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