By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
As is the case with most new business ventures, Kerry Darting didn't know what to expect when he and his father, Hall of Fame coach Ken Darting, launched the Darting Basketball Academy a decade ago.
Kerry Darting instructs young players during a Darting Basketball Academy event. DBA will mark its 10th season in 2024. [File photo/TSN]
But looking back to those beginnings, Kerry Darting, a former college player and Division I coach, couldn't get be happier with how DBA has been able to progress.
"I think it's definitely better than I hoped,'' Darting said. "The support of Topeka has been unbelievable. When I got out of college coaching I knew that I still wanted to be involved in the game and skill development was always what I loved, even as a kid. So when I decided to do it we had a bunch of the coaches I worked for wanted me to go different places, whether it be Texas or Michigan or North Carolina, but I always knew I wanted to come back to Topeka to do it.
"A lot of people thought I was crazy to do that, but coming back and doing it, just the support of the city's been unbelievable and the fact that we get to do it here with a lot of people that I know in the city where I grew up has been really fun for me.''
DBA membership enrollment for 2024 opened earlier this month and will be open until it sells out all the available slots.
"Right now you're registering to become a member and if you're a Darting Basketball member you get the 18-week skills academy and then discounted pricing on all our other events, whether its spring leagues, 3 on 3 leagues, camps and all of that,'' Darting said. "We've got shooting labs where the kids can come in and work on shooting. We have day camps so any day there's no school or a holiday we'll have day camps kids can come to, we have private workouts and we're trying to do a lot of game play stuff.
"We've concentrated so much on skills, which is obviously very important, but in the last couple of years we've put in a fall league, a spring league, a summer 3 on 3 league and we're going to work on putting together some teams at the end of July to travel around and play in some tournaments.''
Darting said the DBA staff continues to look for new things it can try to continue to make the program better.
"That is what's so fun about it,'' Darting said. "You've got to see what works, what the parents want. We always get parents asking us questions about what they think their kid needs, and really if you get one parent asking it's usually a few of them, so it's just fun to add things that we think are going to help the kids and develop their basketball skills.''
Darting is also planning on adding an international flavor to DBA this summer.
"We're planning on bringing in 20 to 25 international kids who will come and play on an international AAU team, so they'll be here in Topeka for those three weeks that the college coaches can be out recruiting,'' Darting said. "They'll train with us and practice with us during the week and then on the weekends, those three weekends in July when they can get out and play, they're going to travel around and play in some tournaments.''
Darting said that one of his most rewarding experiences, particularly at this time of year, is going to high school games and seeing athletes who have attended DBA since they were in third and fourth grade starring for their high school teams.
"That's what it's all about for me,'' Darting said. "It's really fun to watch them have success because you get to see kind of behind the scenes how much work they put into it and how much they love it.''
For more information on Darting Basketball Academy email Darting at
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