This was a great article forward to me by the NJ Panthers. We had 3 kids play for them last season. It was a nice experience for them and I'm sure the relationship will continue in the future. Education is equally important as athletics.
by Robert E. Williams III / Star-Ledger Staff
Athletes aspiring to play with the New Jersey Panthers basketball club not only have to remember their athletic gear, but their report cards as well. While they don't have to be a straight-A student, they have to show they work hard at school.
The emphasis on the balance between academics and athletics has helped shaped the basketball program's budding reputation as a place where athletes can play teams from other states and show college recruiters they have the skills to compete at a higher level.
"We wanted something to stress academics and basketball," said coach and team co-founder Van Johnson. "If they don't get it done in the classroom, they wouldn't be allowed to play for college teams."
More than 300 girls and boys attended the tryouts held at the Morristown Neighborhood House during the past two weeks. They selected about 150 to participate in the club.
The program, which has grown from three to 12 teams since its inception, recruits student athletes age 12-17. Most of the players live in Morris County, with others coming from the surrounding counties of Union, Essex, Somerset, Middlesex and Sussex counties.
The teams, formed three years ago to provide playing opportunities to student athletes, play in the Amateur Athletic Union basketball league. The younger Panther teams play regional AAU teams in New York and Rhode Island, and older teams play in national and regional tournaments, traveling to such places as Chicago and Orlando.
The team is a nonprofit organization that raises funds through corporate sponsorship and player fees. The organization incurs an estimated $1,200 cost per student, with student's families paying a fee of $650 per player to help with costs, Johnson said. Travel and registration fees for regional and national tournaments in such places make up a majority of the team's costs.
The teams play outside of the winter season, allowing student athletes to play for their school teams. The Panthers start tryouts in late January and early February, and typically end their season in July, when national championships are scheduled.James Pisciotto, a 15-year-old Morristown freshman, joined the team because of the competition his encounters in its tournaments.
"The competition level is through the roof," Pisciotto said of his travel to national destinations with his team. "It was a great learning experience."
Johnson, a successful financial consultant who owns V & C Financial Services in Morristown, formed the team with his childhood friend Donnie Forster to foster the concept of athletics as an avenue to teach life lessons. It was a concept they learned as members of successful basketball teams at the former Bayley-Ellard High School in Madison.
"We are teaching them that working hard on the basketball court will give them the values (they will need) to do the things they want to do in life," Johnson said.
If they have bad grades, they are given time and tutoring help from coaches and their peers to improve their grades. If a student has academic problems, they make the athletes bring homework to practice to work on during free time, Forster said.
"I have them bring their books on the road when we travel," he said. "There is a lot of free time. Instead of playing video games in their room, they could be doing homework."
The region and national competitions have enabled coaches from the league to expose their students athletes to recruiters from some of the nation's top schools and athletic programs. Recruiters usually attend AAU tournaments to scout for their programs, Johnson said.
Former players of the coaches have been accepted to and attended Harvard, Georgetown, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, John Hopkins and other Division I NCAA programs, Johnson said.
Some of the club's former players include Jyles Tucker, a Morristown standout who attended Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., and plays for the San Diego Chargers as a linebacker, and Jamar Thorpe, who played for the University of Houston and currently plays for leagues in other countries.
For more information, visit
http://www.newjerseypanthers.org/.
