Basketball BalletQuestions - Email: ddoyle@internationalsport.com or Call 860-233-3500 x2296 |
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About Basketball Ballet Download Application Apply Online 2005 Team Picture with Bob Cousy Recent Newspaper Article Letter to Participants |
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New sport dribbles and dances to Disney by Steven Frank Basketball is difficult for those short in height, especially when they're non-physically developed and short attention spanned five- and six-year-olds. Such was the task faced by West Hartford resident Dan Doyle three years ago during one of his summer basketball camps at Kingswood-Oxford School. As a result, he created an activity that combined basketball skills like ball handling with elements of dance and music. Doyle called it "basketball ballet" and it's since grown from one man's idea to a nationally known innovation. "We had a meeting with my staff and we were discussing ways to make it an interesting week for the little kids. So, as I thought about it, I thought it would be fun to develop a program that would enhance their ball handling and footwork skills. Then, I thought it would be fun to add music to it," said Doyle, former men's basketball coach at Trinity College and founder of The Institute for International Sport at the University of Rhode Island, which uses sport to promote goodwill and friendship among nations. Doyle planned for his young campers to perform choreographed drills for their parents at the end of the session. But he got more than he bargained for in that first public basketball ballet performance. "We thought the little kids would perform and a few parents would show up," Doyle said. "All of a sudden, the older kids wanted to go to the show. The gym was full. More parents showed up than I ever expected, including all the campers. The place was rocking and I was thinking, 'oh my god, this is pretty good.'" Last year, Doyle's Institute administered a pilot basketball ballet team - based in West Hartford - that performed at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex. In August 2005, it will again be at Disney, but this time as a national competition drawing more than 20 teams. "It's (basketball ballet) one of the most remarkable concepts I have ever observed," said John Bisignano of Disney Sports. Doyle, whose Institute has programs like the World Scholar-Athlete Games - which attracts close to 200 countries - and National Sportsmanship Day in March, is already getting calls from interested parties. "We'll have a team from Maine. There will be a team from Richmond, Virginia. There will be a team from White Plains, New York. There will be one team from Rhode Island. I believe there is going to be a team from California. We'll have a good number," he said. "We'll only allow 20-25 teams because we know what the facilities are down there. That's a good first year number." So, what is it? Basketball ballet isn't a game - it's a performance. A team doesn't win by scoring more points than its opponent - it wins on performance and creativity. Each team doesn't have five players competing at a time and the rest sitting on the bench - it has between 16-25 people, each one seeing continuous playing time. Players don't have to avoid violations, such as double dribbling and personal fouls - they are encouraged to develop their own rules, such as dancing while moving a basketball around their back. "They'll have to prepare two or maybe even three routines of about 18 minutes each (at the national championship)," said Doyle, who compared the judging to that of gymnastics. "When we brought the kids down last summer, they had a lot of input on what they would do on stage … At Disney, they had a hoop but there was a minimal amount of shooting. There were some lay-ups as they related to the choreography of the routine. But it's mostly ball handling and footwork." During the children's holiday break from school, Doyle hosted a basketball ballet camp at The American School for the Deaf in West Hartford. He wanted to give more youngsters an opportunity to become acclimated with the sport's dynamics. Of the approximate 20 children in the camp, more than half weren't on the 2004 pilot team. "They do a lot of cool things like dribbling while they're laying on their back. The first time I saw it, I said, "wow, that's pretty good. I didn't teach him that stuff,'" said Simsbury resident Glenn Lammey, whose 10-year-old son, Will, attends Doyle's summer camp but wasn't on the inaugural basketball ballet team. Lammey added: "He (Will) did a performance last year (at the summer camp) but this is a trial to see if he'll be interested in it enough for us to go to Disney." The camp featured drills that made the youngsters look like Harlem Globetrotters in training. The children, each with a basketball in hand, scattered throughout the court and dribbled figure eights between the legs, moved the ball around their legs, back and head, and dribbled from the sitting position. "Repetition is the key," said West Hartford resident David Francis, whose 12-year-old son, Will, was on last year's pilot team and also plays travel basketball. Will "has learned some aggressive moves and that's important when you're guarding guys four or five inches taller." Ainsley Rossitto, of Rocky Hill, is another camper who was on the 2004 squad. In preparation for that performance, she and her teammates practiced two and sometimes three nights a week - two hours each - for three consecutive months. "It's a lot of hard work but it all paid off when we went to Disney," said Ainsley, 13, whose uncle, John Egan, played 12 seasons in the NBA and is arguably the best Connecticut high school basketball player of all time. Laura Lowry, of West Hartford, plays basketball ballet with her two younger brothers. The three raised nearly $1,200 in ad and ticket sales for a benefit show at Kingswood-Oxford. The fund went toward their Disney trip. Doyle plans to do another show this year. "It's a lot of fun," said Laura, 13. "You're developing your own skill and your own personal success." In addition to Doyle, the camp was instructed by his daughter, Meg, a former basketball player at Bates College; Dino Aguado, an AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) basketball coach; and Durelle Brown, a former basketball player at Manhattan College. Each coach stresses basketball fundamentals but also lets the children decide on creative elements like music and dance moves. "It's (basketball ballet) fun and very productive in skill development. And there is a lot of team building," said Doyle, who is currently writing a book on sports parenting. He added: "it's a different form of competition. The competitive nature is more within the child." In April, Doyle will begin practices for the national championship. There, all routines will be evaluated on the following categories: ball handling skills, footwork, choreography, creativity, music and energy. For the first year, there will just be an open division with teams having players between the ages of 6-18. In the future, he anticipates more teams and coverage. "We're in discussions with ESPN. They like the creativity of it," said Doyle, who will field three or four teams at the championship. "Within the next two years, I believe it will be on television." With potential for a bright future, Francis views Doyle as a pioneer. "This guy dreams up things," he said. "But the thing is, others dream them up at cocktail parties. He (Doyle) dreams them up and has a bunch of kids at Disney six months later." Doyle, however, plays down his impact. "The only time I was a pioneer was in high school," he said. "That was our school's name." CTL For basketball ballet signup information, contact Dan Doyle at 233-3500 ex.2296 or log on to www.internationalsport.com. "Reprinted with permission by Connecticut LIFE." |
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