By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Kerry Darting's Darting Basketball Academy has continued to add new programs in its 10 years of existence, and the DBA will take another big step this summer with the addition of an international element.
Twenty-four high school aged players representing 11 different countries are scheduled to arrive in Topeka on July 2nd and stay through July 22nd to train.
Kerry Darting instructs young players during a Darting Basketball Academy event. DBA is celebrating its 10th season in 2024 and will add an international flavor this summer. [File photo/TSN]
Players from Australia, Brazil, Italy, Spain, Croatia, Serbia, Lithuania, Slovenia and Dubai are scheduled to take part in the DBA program.
"These kids are coming here because they want to play college basketball, so there will be a lot of college coaches coming in to watch them for the whole three weeks at nights when we're scrimmaging and working out and practicing,'' Darting said.
In addition to helping the international contingent find a college home Darting said the program will also benefit up and coming players in the Topeka area.
"I think it's huge just for the local kids and the area because we'll have the better players coming in and scrimmaging with (the international players) every night, so it will give them the chance to play against some good competition,'' Darting said.
"The college coaches will come in to watch the international kids, but at the same time, if there's kids locally that want to play collegiately and are good, the college coaches will have a good opportunity to watch them play as well.''
Darting, a former Division I assistant, said he relied on his college contacts to add the international aspect to the DBA program.
"Obviously as a college coach you have a lot of connections and I've just kind of maintained those relationships for the past 10 years,'' Darting said. "We even went to Italy this past winter and did some camps and we're planning on doing more of those, but it was really just through the relationships and connections that I made as a college coach that we were kind of able to get everybody on board and coordinate everything and get everybody pulling in the same direction to help get them here.''
The international players will not only train in Topeka but will compete as a team in three out-of-town AAU tournaments.
"Monday through Thursday they'll have team practices and then at night they'll scrimmage,'' Darting said. "On the weekends they're planning on playing in three tournaments. One will be in Kansas City, one will be in Denver and the final one will be in Dallas.
"It's a good opportunity for them to get to see American basketball and play against American players, so it's exciting for them as well.''
The international players will stay in a dorm on the Washburn campus while doing a lot of their training/scrimmaging at Topeka Collegiate.
One of the staples of the DBA, the 3 on 3 Summer League, will run from Monday (June 3) through July 10, and Darting plans to offer an added incentive for this summer's local participants.
"We're going to offer an opportunity for the top 10 players in each age group to go to the tournaments with the international kids, so for the high school kids that want to play collegiately it's obviously going to be good for them because there will be college coaches there watching, and for the younger kids, we're going to give them an opportunity to go compete as a team.''
For more information on Darting Basketball Academy email Darting at
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