National Collegiate Athletic Association
NCAA News Archive - 2007
« back to 2007 | Back to NCAA News Archive Index
Hoops hall to host women's basketball film debut
|
By Leilana McKindra
The NCAA News
The NCAA News
The Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame is teaming up with Beyond the Box, IFC Films, National CineMedia and Regal Cinemas to host the international premiere of “Believe in Me,” a major motion picture based on the true story of legendary high school girls basketball coach Jim Keith. The film debuts March 8 in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Directed by Robert Collector, the film is adapted from the 1974 novel “Brief Garland” written by Keith’s uncle, Harold Keith. Set in the 1960s, “Believe in Me” is the inspirational story of the Sayre (Oklahoma) High School girls’ basketball team, a losing and disrespected squad, and its coach who arrived to take over the boys’ squad and found out he had been reassigned to coach the girls’ team. Keith and the players eventually grow to trust one another as they work to transform the squad into a successful team.
The film features actors Jeffrey Donovan, Samantha Mathis and Bruce Dern. Diana Taurasi, current WNBA star and former University of Connecticut women’s basketball standout, also makes a brief appearance as the coach of an opposing team.
After its premiere, “Believe in Me” will be released in limited markets March 9, including Oklahoma City; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Indianapolis; Cleveland; Des Moines, Iowa; Kansas City, Missouri; Knoxville; Lexington, Kentucky; Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina; Austin, Texas; and Lubbock, Texas.
Karen Tucker, director of basketball relations for the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, said the hall became involved after learning through one of its board members that movie backers were seeking a location to host a premiere.
Tucker said it was appropriate for the movie to premier in the hall’s hometown. “Having it tied to the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame is definitely the right connection,” she said.
Keith earned 613 victories in 35 years as a head coach at Sayre and three other Oklahoma schools. A member of the Oklahoma State High School Basketball Hall of Fame, he continues to serve as a volunteer basketball coach.
The goal of the program was to provide peer support, accountability, time management, progress reports, study hall, tutors, classroom attentiveness, classroom participation and 100 percent class attendance. But Ditch wanted to use the Internet to do more to support not only the school’s student-athletes, but others beyond the Indiana campus.
Last month, Ditch unveiled the WINwithCLASS Web site, which not only trumpets his players’ academic, athletics and community-engagement efforts, but also provides motivational content designed to inspire any student-athlete who logs on.
The site highlights team goals and successes, spotlights a baseball student-athlete of the week and shares team members’ community-service activities, features that Ditch hopes will encourage players to achieve academic and personal success while also building ties with the local community.
The Web site also features a motivational and inspirational column called “Reach Out for Advice,” in which Ditch periodically invites guest columnists to share insights on various topics. Past columnists include Christian Klemash, author of “How to Succeed in the Game of Life” (34 interviews with the world’s greatest coaches), and current Indiana head football coach and three-time Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Coach of the Year Lou Tepper.
“The words ‘World Wide Web’ are powerful when you can put something online and it’s accessible to everybody. That allows us to open our program to anybody with interest,” said Ditch, who encourages student-athletes at Indiana and all over the country to check the site out.
Though the project is still in the early stages — it was launched January 15 — Ditch said interest in the Web site is growing daily.
“I think it’s easy to follow wins and losses, and stats and all that kind of stuff, but there’s so much more to the student-athlete experience,” he said. “I want the Web site to highlight those things.”
To view the WINwithCLASS site, go to www.winwithclass.com.
Directed by Robert Collector, the film is adapted from the 1974 novel “Brief Garland” written by Keith’s uncle, Harold Keith. Set in the 1960s, “Believe in Me” is the inspirational story of the Sayre (Oklahoma) High School girls’ basketball team, a losing and disrespected squad, and its coach who arrived to take over the boys’ squad and found out he had been reassigned to coach the girls’ team. Keith and the players eventually grow to trust one another as they work to transform the squad into a successful team.
The film features actors Jeffrey Donovan, Samantha Mathis and Bruce Dern. Diana Taurasi, current WNBA star and former University of Connecticut women’s basketball standout, also makes a brief appearance as the coach of an opposing team.
After its premiere, “Believe in Me” will be released in limited markets March 9, including Oklahoma City; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Indianapolis; Cleveland; Des Moines, Iowa; Kansas City, Missouri; Knoxville; Lexington, Kentucky; Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina; Austin, Texas; and Lubbock, Texas.
Karen Tucker, director of basketball relations for the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, said the hall became involved after learning through one of its board members that movie backers were seeking a location to host a premiere.
Tucker said it was appropriate for the movie to premier in the hall’s hometown. “Having it tied to the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame is definitely the right connection,” she said.
Keith earned 613 victories in 35 years as a head coach at Sayre and three other Oklahoma schools. A member of the Oklahoma State High School Basketball Hall of Fame, he continues to serve as a volunteer basketball coach.
College Web site keys on winning with class
When Indiana University of Pennsylvania head baseball coach Jeff Ditch arrived on campus about 18 months ago, he launched the team’s academic support program, called “WINwithCLASS.”The goal of the program was to provide peer support, accountability, time management, progress reports, study hall, tutors, classroom attentiveness, classroom participation and 100 percent class attendance. But Ditch wanted to use the Internet to do more to support not only the school’s student-athletes, but others beyond the Indiana campus.
Last month, Ditch unveiled the WINwithCLASS Web site, which not only trumpets his players’ academic, athletics and community-engagement efforts, but also provides motivational content designed to inspire any student-athlete who logs on.
The site highlights team goals and successes, spotlights a baseball student-athlete of the week and shares team members’ community-service activities, features that Ditch hopes will encourage players to achieve academic and personal success while also building ties with the local community.
The Web site also features a motivational and inspirational column called “Reach Out for Advice,” in which Ditch periodically invites guest columnists to share insights on various topics. Past columnists include Christian Klemash, author of “How to Succeed in the Game of Life” (34 interviews with the world’s greatest coaches), and current Indiana head football coach and three-time Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Coach of the Year Lou Tepper.
“The words ‘World Wide Web’ are powerful when you can put something online and it’s accessible to everybody. That allows us to open our program to anybody with interest,” said Ditch, who encourages student-athletes at Indiana and all over the country to check the site out.
Though the project is still in the early stages — it was launched January 15 — Ditch said interest in the Web site is growing daily.
“I think it’s easy to follow wins and losses, and stats and all that kind of stuff, but there’s so much more to the student-athlete experience,” he said. “I want the Web site to highlight those things.”
To view the WINwithCLASS site, go to www.winwithclass.com.
© 2010 The National Collegiate Athletic Association
Terms and Conditions | Privacy Policy