On Wednesday morning, before any Spartans had even gotten up for their 8 a.m. classes, the MSU men’s club basketball team was up practicing at IM Sports-East. It’s not just a leisurely practice with a bunch of guys standing around talking about what they are going to do on the weekend, either.
It’s 6:30 a.m. and they are sprinting up and down the court dunking and popping 3-pointers. The team runs through high intensity drills, practicing its offense and defense and each and every one of them is giving it their all.
“I love basketball, just competition in general,” first year medical student and founder of the club team Robert Ray Jr. said. “If I’m going to get up for anything at 6:30 in the morning I’m glad it’s basketball.”
Last year, some of the same men on the club team now were on an intramural team together and won the intramural championships for the third year in a row. They were asked by MSU’s intramural adviser to participate in an open tournament in Dayton, Ohio, competing against club teams from schools across the country.
“We didn’t win but we were competitive especially for not practicing like the rest of the teams,” Ray Jr. said.
After the tournament, Ray Jr. talked to the adviser and was ready to get together a club team of his own, with the help of his friends of course.
“We did most of the start up,” accounting senior Derek Veltema said. “Rob had me go through and research how much it costs to be a part of the league, how much jerseys cost and then he did research with the athletic department to figure out what type of tournaments are out there.”
As for the players, Ray Jr. and Veltema just had to ask their closest friends.
“A lot of the guys on the team are my friends and some of them are my best friends, we played on IM teams together and we played pick up together,” Ray Jr. said.
For their first year as an official club team, Ray Jr. and his friends wanted to keep it to just guys that he knew and had confidence in their abilities to perform at a higher level. Journalism junior T.J. Morris is one of those guys.
“We are always trying to get better and always trying to build on our game and coach takes it pretty serious so that makes everyone else take it serious,” Morris said. “I love the competition and I love winning.”
The club team’s coach Sean Hankins is a psychology professor at MSU and he works with the team for free while still coaching at Lansing Eastern High School, but he’s not doing it for the money.
“I’m a big believer in mentorship,” Hankins said. “The opportunity to work with some kids, some students and not only be able to teach them life skills through basketball but also offer mentorship is very important.”
During practice, Hankins does exactly that. He’s out there passing the ball around and playing with the guys. At the same time, he gives them key advice and encouragement on what they can do better.
“Our goal is to be helpful, to represent the Spartan spirit and Spartan principle,” Hankins said. “I think that’s what this is about it’s about, Spartan’s will and I have a great group of guys.”
The official club basketball season hasn’t started yet but the team has been participating in tournaments to prepare themselves for the upcoming season. The Spartans are expecting to go all the way to the national championships at the end of the season and coach Hankins is confident in his team.
“If we play with discipline, we play with effort, we play as a family we’ll be successful,” Hankins said. “They have the character, the talent and skills so it’s exciting.”
The team is seeded No. 4 in its conference and Morris expects the team to perform at its best.
