Pete Maravich Assembly Center

Pete Maravich Assembly Center

Friday, May 30, 2008

Congratulations to these players named to the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC) honor roll for the 2007-2008 season.


Basketball (Men)
Detrick Johnson
Julien Marion
Micheal McNutt
Steven Miller
Daniel Sturgis
Jeffrey Sullivan
Jacob Zumo

Wednesday, May 28, 2008





Phillip Holmes (Durrant, MS)










Johnny Markham(Vicksburg, MS)



Detrick Johnson (Clinton, MS)



AJ Taylor (from East St. Louis, IL) vs. LSU

What are we going to do in Camp?

We have already had a good response for our camps so far and we are excited about working with all the campers that come to our camp.

In the morning sessions, we stress all the individual skills it takes to be a good all around player: defense, rebounding, ball handling, passing and moving without the ball.

In the afternoon sessions, we place emphasis on shooting technique and improving your shooting confidence.

In both sessions, we will have fun games and contests. It does not matter of your age or ability. We put our campers in groups that allow them to learn and be successful.

The first three days we will also have scrimmage games in camp to put our skills to work. The last day of camp is a review and a lot of fun contests and competition.

We are going to have a series of talks about how to be a "Champion in Every Area of Your Life". Each day we will discuss a different topic in helping you be a champion.

I encourage you to go to our blog or have your parents go to our blog at http://basketballandlife.blogspot.com/

Please call or email if you have any questions

Monday, May 26, 2008

No "Do overs in Life"

Revelation

Where you have been?
Where are you now?
Where you are going?


I was able to be the Head Men’s Basketball Coach and Athletic Director at Faulkner University from 1989 to 1994. We had some success and were able to take the program to their first trip to the NAIA National Tournament in 1992.

One of the best things we did while we were there was to have weekly devotionals with our team. I was a young coach and a young Christian. I really wanted to have our team be exposed to how great Christianity can be and how much fun you can have as a believer.

Our Bible faculty at Faulkner consisted of great men who were very wise. I did have a fear that some of them might not be able to relate to our young black basketball players.

I would bring in outside speakers with the only admonition was that they make Christianity sound exciting and not a set of rules. Most of the speakers we had were great, but what was fun was to have our players share a devotional thought with the team.

One time I had a young man on our team share named, Brad Harris, from Atlanta. Brad had a big heart and he and I butted heads a few times because of my immaturity.

I still liked Brad a lot and felt I could help him and relate. He came from a broken home and he really wanted to make something of himself. His mom did a great job with him, but he was one of those kids that really needed a dad.

I never have forgotten what Brad said that day. He said three things we should always remember.
1. Where you have been: teaches you about life and the experiences you have had
2. Where you are now: Enjoy the moment because it does not last too long.
3. Where you are going: What are your goals and how do you plan to get there.

For some of us it is painful to look back to your childhood or younger years or for that matter anything in your past. For some it is regret. For some it is nothing, but happy memories. Whatever the case I think we need to have knowledge of where we have been, where we are now and maybe most importantly where is your life headed now?

I appreciate what Brad had to say that day and it has stuck with me for a long time. I usually use his points each year in our basketball camps.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Coaching Philosophy
Coach Tom Kelsey

When I first started coaching I was an assistant coach at Brentwood Academy in Brentwood, Tennessee. The head coach was Ricky Bowers who was a teammate of mine at Lipscomb University. From Ricky I learned about intensity.

In the state of Tennessee Ricky has won state championships in both football and basketball. He is one of the best high school in football and in basketball around. It was great to work with him because I knew what a competitor he was (Bowers was an NAIA All American at Lipscomb) and coaching with him on a daily basis I learned how important intensity towards having a successful program.”

“I was able to be a head coach for the next 6 years at both the high school and college level. It was great to be in charge of my own program and be in charge. I learned a lot being a head coach in college at an early age (26 years old), but it also involved a lot of growing pains.”

“During the 1994-95 season I had the chance to work with my college coach, Don Meyer. Coach Meyer one of the best teachers of the game of basketball anywhere. His camps, clinics, and video/DVD series are some of the finest instruction you can get from fundamentals, to motion offense, to tough man-to-man defense.

From Coach Meyer I learned about organization and passion. I was able to see how he became so successful through being preparation. He still has a strong desire to help coaches and to teach the game. Through my association with Coach, I learned that to build and maintain a successful program you have to be well organized and you have to treat your job with deep passion.

“Mark Gottfried hired me in 1995 to be an assistant coach at Murray State University. We were fortunate to have success and then moved onto the University of Alabama. Mark has been coach of the year in both the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Everywhere Mark has been he has had success as a player and a coach. From Mark I learned the power of being focused. When it comes to recruiting, scouting, practice-planning Mark was able to stay driven to whatever was the task in front of him. Working with him for six years, I can see how he continues to have success. Mark taught me the value of stay focused to a vision, a recruit or any aspect of building a basketball program.”

I am grateful for the coaches that hired me as a part of their coaching staffs because each one was instrumental in help to develop my coaching philosophy. Each of the coaches I worked for have in some way influenced decisions I make each day regarding our program here at Belhaven College.

Through the years, I have had numerous assistant coaches and student coaches that gave me insights on how to teach and reach young people. I get to have a great job working at a fantastic institution and work with some of the best kids around.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Quote from Jeff Sullivan Graduate May 2008

"Belhaven gave me the opportunity to achieve my athletic and academic goals in a positive, Christian environment and for that I am very grateful. I came across many people that inspired me to be my best and helped me grow during my time there including students, teammates, coaches, and professors. I am grateful for the time I spent at Belhaven College."

Friday, May 16, 2008

Congratulations to Jeff Sullivan and Dax Miller!!!!

Both Senior Jeff Sullivan and Junior Dax Miller were named to the NABC (National Association of Basketball Coaches) Honor Roll.

This is a nationwide honor for Juniors or Seniors that have a 3.2 GPA or higher. I served on the Academic Committee for many years and we had to push to get NAIA players honored along with the NCAA players. This will come out in the NABC magazine later this summer.


#14 Jeff Sullivan from Birmingham, AL with the basketball (above)

#23 Dax Miller driving the ball up the floor (above)






































Thursday, May 15, 2008

"How to practice and play"

While I played in college, we had a stairway from our locker room to the gym floor. On the wall at the turn in the stairs, a quote said:


“Practice and Play with the intensity and poise of a national championship team”


Playing for entire college career and seeing that quote every day, you would think that it would have some meaning to us as players. I do not know if my teammates, the players before or after I played thought about the quote very often. Like most things that you see over and over you take for granted.

The college coach I played for was one of the most respected coaches in the profession, Don Meyer, and he is still coaching at Northern State University in Aberdeen, SD. As a kid you do not take full advantage of the things that are available.

Most kids today are just like us when we were kids and do not understand to full blessings of life. We can all fall into the trap of taking things for granted like solid relationships, a caring mate, a friend you can share anything with and being able to be healthy enough just to walk and run around.

I put the sign up in our stairway here at Belhaven College just as we had while in college. What does that mean, “Practice and play with the poise and intensity of a national championship team”? Maybe I could word it different, but in respect for my coach, I made the sign say exactly what he put on that wall over 25 years ago.

Poise

To practice and play with poise and intensity. Poise means self-assurance, composure, self-control, dignity. I know our coach was more concerned with us as people than he was at winning a national championship team.

Coach Meyer was not a win at all costs coach and he did not try to cut corners. He wanted your best. Whatever you could give, that is what he wanted. Was he hard to play for? Did he push us hard? Did he yell? Yes, yes, and yes. Not a player that played for him would disagree, but probably those of us that made it through four years of playing for him would ever say he was unfair, that he cared only about himself, or that he only played favorites.

That is tough to do in coaching, teaching, running a business, pastoring a church or anything else. How do you push, yell, and be hard to play for but you are fair, care about others more than yourself, or play favorites?

I do not know how he did it because I struggle as a husband, parent, and coach to do the things Coach did and coach the way he coached. Our styles are different and our personalities are not the same, but he taught me a lot about myself.

Why am I sharing something with you that happened 25 years ago? I say these things to let you know I was sharing with someone recently about Coach Meyer and how he was hard to play for at times, but always fair. Most people ask what it was like to play for Coach Meyer because he is a well known around the country as a fantastic coach. I usually answer, “It was a great experience” To be honest sometimes I leave out the word “great” and just say “It was an experience, but one of the best of my life”.

It was an experience that I am not sure I have ever fully appreciated or will ever fully appreciate. However, here is the thing I have just recently realized: He never made things personal. We were not “stupid” “idiots” or any other downgrading you can think of to call someone.

He was on us hard and never let up, but I look back and see that you never left practice or a game defeated or dejected. You might not have like the outcome, but he had the ability even when he chewed you out that you the entire time he was correct and you deserved whatever he was going to dish out.

All of his former players laugh now about being singled out and may have caught the brunt of his displeasure a time or two. The funnier thing is that we usually deserved everything he dished out to us and we look back and realize that time he really got us was well deserved. I know this is a real area that I am trying to correct in not making other fell attacked personally. Whether it is my wife, my own kids, or anyone associated with our basketball program. I want to be able to push and motivate others to give their best, but not at the expense of tearing them down.

I hope that I someday turn the corner and not get disgusted when others let me down or do not give their best. I can still find ways to communicate without making others fell lower and making myself look better. Even though he was animated on the sidelines and any one that played for him can give you a great story about being chewed out by him about something he had that POISE.

He had poise to know when to push and when to let up. He had the poise to teach and emphasize with us what it meant to have class and carry ourselves a certain way. He made you want to be better. Even today, he instilled in me the desire to keep trying to improve and not be fully satisfied and to have the poise and belief that I could get better.

Intensity

Intensity means strength, concentration, passion and power. Coach had unbelievable intensity when it came to working. He was relentless. We knew he would always be prepared and if a game came down to coaching, we would have a great chance of winning because Coach was going to put us in position to win.

Even if we lost on the scoreboard Coach would have us leave thinking we were winners because he stressed being intense about how you played. I have tried to bring those positive aspects of intensity in how I am as a mate, a father and coach.

It is amazing how important intensity is to having success. Intensity is the ability to do what you are supposed to do even when you do not want to do whatever that task may be. He taught me how important it was to have that intensity and desire. As I played my four years in college, I looked at the sign too many times to count and walked by it many time without even thinking about the sign.

I was one of the fortunate ones that came through the program and my last year we did win the National Championship. It was not with talent, but with Poise, Intensity, also practicing, and playing like that all the time.

The more interesting thing is that although we had a good team we were not the most talented team coach ever had, nor the most intense, nor the most poised, nor the most athletic. It is just for that season it all came together. The players before us that built the program and the ones that came after to continue the tradition were just as important as our team was in winning the National Championship.

What I learned most was that it took a group of individuals committed to a goal, determined to follow leadership, and a willingness to put aside individual attention. To be able to “Practice and play with poise and intensity of a National Championship team” means to give to something bigger than you. It is like the John Wooden quote "It's amazing what can be accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit"

What we accomplished a long time ago as a player is what I am trying to sell our team on as we build for the future. We have the chance to something special here at Belhaven. With God's continued blessings, good things will continue to happen here for us as a campus and a basketball program.

I know for us we will have big challenges, but the one I will always stress with my team is to "Practice and Play with the Poise and Intensity of a National Championship Team"
“My years at Belhaven College were some of the best of my life. I was able to get an outstanding Christian education as well as have the opportunity to play basketball at an extremely competitive level. My experiences at Belhaven both as a student and athlete have served me well in my professional and family life.”

Brian Bellomy
Wetumpka, AL
Class of 95’
As the basketball coach at Belhaven I try to stress three dynamic parts of our college.
1. Spiritual Life

There is the opportunity for Spiritual growth for each student here at Belhaven. It impresses me the influence I have seen in the lives of many former students and student athletes that attended Belhaven.

It is good to hear stories from former players that I come in contact as well as traditional students from the college. I have heard stories of how their faith was impacted greatly and strengthened because of their time at Belhaven. This influence came through a variety of ways whether it was in the classroom or through other people on campus.

2. Academics

Belhaven continues to make strides in being stronger academically. I am proud of the education our students receive here at Belhaven and feel like it is a tremendous recruiting tool.

We stress how solid the academic programs are here and we emphasize the small student to teacher ratio. Our goal is to make sure young men understand they will have quality educators that care about them as students and as people. The faculty here invests in the lives of our students in a powerful way.

I realized how important having relationships with the faculty as a student in my own life was a few weeks ago. During a recruiting visit with a young man and his family and I started listing the names of my instructors from college. I just kept naming the teachers I had while in college and could not believe how many I remembered. It amazed me that after 20 years I could still remember their names and the classes they taught ( I conveniently forgot the grades I received). There is no way could come that close to naming that many of my high school teachers.

3. Athletics

Our push is that the student athletes we bring in here to Belhaven are going to be put to a challenge athletically.

We have a full time strength coach that works on quickness and speed as well as strength. We have three full time athletic trainers on staff to help our athletes to get the proper treatment if they ever have an injury.

Our coaches are committed to making sure each individual improves as an athlete and in their skill level. We are constantly trying to find new ways to help our players take their game up a notch.

We have had some big wins and made big strides over the last couple of seasons. We led the nation in FT shooting two seasons ago and this past season for the second year in a row, we received votes in the top 25 NAIA National poll early in the season.

Two years ago, it was academic casualties that set us back and then this past season we had some injuries that had a big impact on our season.We could use your prayers that this season we continue to make strides without big roadblocks. The bumps have made us better, but I am still excited about the future we have here in building the basketball program.

Character and Building into lives

Our main emphasis is to impact lives while building and maintain a top-notch basketball program. We are about building character, discipline and teaching our young men what it means to work hard.

Coach Whitten and I have spent many nights on the phone and on the road, trying to build what I think is going to be a fun team to watch next season and for seasons to come.

We are not finished yet with our recruiting so keep your eyes open for some great young men with the skills we need to be successful.God has been good to us and will continue to be good. We just have to stay faithful in the little things.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Life Lessons

At my age I am still amazed at how God works, how patient He is, how forgiving, how loving and how compassionate.

I still as a parent of four (15, 13, 11 and 2) am learning each day to be a better parent, a better husband, a better son, a better brother and a better friend.

My friend reminded me of a story I told him a while ago and it shows how much God wants to spend time with us.

While living in Tuscaloosa I had come home from a long day at work and was ready for some rest and relaxation. My son who was probably 9 or 10 had other ideas. He wanted to play catch in the front yard. As he went to get the gloves and a baseball to throw I kept hoping my wife would call us in to dinner soon. As we threw the ball my wife had come out and given us the "Five minutes till dinner" line.

As we continued to throw she soon came back out and said "Time for dinner". I then told my son "OK catch one more then we will go in". I threw him the ball and it was easy to catch. He caught it in his glove then dropped it. I threw it again and he did the same thing. Perfectly catching the ball the purposely dropping the ball each time I tossed it to him. It took time to register, but it finally hit me that all he wanted was TIME. He was going to do everything he could to stay out there and play catch with his dad. Even if that meant purposely dropping the ball.

Here is where the lesson comes in. That is what God wants from us. Our TIME and our ATTENTION. That is why sometimes the easy things in life do not go so well. The situations that come up, the opportunities we have to help that we don't take advantage of, the people we ignore. All those times when God is really there and he is calling out for our TIME and ATTENTION.

That evening tossing the ball with my son taught me a lot about how God longs for us and longs to have that deep relationship with Him, but we put it off because we feel our schedule is more important and our time and attention are given to something else.