Joshua Cistrunk

Basketball Coach | Entrepreneur | Player Development Specialist

Joshua Cistrunk is a basketball coach, entrepreneur, and community builder from Stone Mountain, Georgia — a city that shaped his work ethic and his love for the game. Basketball didn't just find Josh; it called to him through the greatest competitors the sport has ever seen. Watching Michael Jordan hit the iconic last shot against the Utah Jazz, studying Kobe Bryant's Mamba Mentality across five championships with different rosters, and witnessing LeBron James reach ten NBA Finals appearances across three organizations — Cleveland, Miami, and Los Angeles — winning championships with each and proving that his winning mentality transcends any roster, any city, any circumstance. These moments didn't just inspire him, they formed the blueprint for how he coaches and leads today.

What Josh took from those legends wasn't just the accolades — it was the mentality. The relentless pursuit. The understanding that greatness isn't given, it's built through prayer, grind, and competition.

As the Founder and Program Director of Elevate To Greatness (ETG), Josh has channeled that mentality into a premier player development, recruitment, and brand marketing organization serving athletes and families across Jefferson, Braselton, Hoschton, Gwinnett County, Roswell, Alpharetta, and Johns Creek, Georgia. ETG works with athletes at every level — from grassroots youth players all the way to professional athletes — offering individual recruitment packages, skills clinics, social media content strategy, skill development programs, AAU, and year-round leagues, and hands-on family guidance. ETG's AAU program competes on the Adidas Brand Circuit, one of the most elite grassroots platforms in the country, giving athletes premier exposure to college coaches and scouts nationwide. Josh believes no athlete — at any level — should have to navigate their career alone.

With collegiate coaching experience that includes involvement with a championship program at East Mississippi Community College and a current role as Assistant Coach at Georgia Southern University East Georgia, Coach Cistrunk brings proven, real-world knowledge to every player he develops. He holds an Associate's Degree and is actively pursuing his Bachelor's Degree in Public Health, with a focus on understanding the mind, body, and soul — a philosophy that extends directly into how he trains and mentors athletes from the grassroots level to the professional game.

Josh is also the author of the upcoming book, Potential to Performance: A Player and Parent Guide to Basketball Recruitment, a resource built to equip the next generation with the tools, strategy, and mindset to compete at the collegiate level and beyond.

At the core of everything Coach Cistrunk does is a deep belief that basketball brings life to a community — camaraderie, joy, and purpose. That belief drives him every day, on and off the court. His message to every athlete he works with is the same: Pray. Grind. Compete. Because greatness is already in you — now go earn it.