If we took our eyes off of the basketball we could lose our focus. We can control the basketball.’ Everything outside of that we had no control over. Hosea Rupprecht, Coach Dru talked about the team’s relationship with the media. Willie Smith’s older brother, Illya, who raised him from the age of 7, as well as Gloria James, LeBron’s mother, are also featured in the film. His main goal was to make these boys into men of character by living an example of a consistent Christian life as a father, husband, coach. He and his family were an anchor of stability for them during these years. The film shifts focus to Coach Dru Joyce, already a father figure to all these boys. As seniors, the 2003 state and national championships drove the team. They came in second in the state championship in 2002. Dambrot left suddenly for a college coaching position and Coach Dru replaced him. The team won state and national championships in 20.īut then trouble started. In high school, former college coach Keith Dambrot trained “the Fighting Irish” hard for the first two years. “It was such a refreshing surprise.”īelman’s project became the nucleus of “More Than a Game,” which was cowritten with Brad Hogan.Ĭoach Dru Joyce II recruited LeBron, Sian and Willie when they were in middle school to be part of son Dru’s traveling team, “the Shooting Stars.” They practiced at the Salvation Army gym. “I was impressed by their unique friendship after 10 minutes with them,” he said. As a non-member of the press, Belman was given unusual access and began traveling and filming the team. This prompted Belman to get in touch with St. “During my research I read an article about these four African-American kids in Akron: LeBron James, Sian Cotton, James Dru Joyce III and Willie McGee - ‘The Fabulous Four.’ What was so remarkable was this brief blurb saying that these boys, three of them from the inner city, had played together as kids and then chose to stay together for high school. “I was committed to telling a story about my hometown,” Belman told me in an interview.
When Belman, a native of Akron, Ohio, was an undergraduate film school student at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles in 2002, he was required to make a 10-minute film for his production course. Now, with “More Than a Game,” a new documentary by first-time director Kristopher Belman, we get to see inside the heart and soul of a basketball champion and the family and friends who made him who he is. Of active basketball stars, Kobe Bryant may have most name recognition, but 6-foot-8-inch LeBron James, the highest-paid player in the NBA, drafted out of high school by the Cleveland Cavaliers, has caught the popular imagination. Mary's basketball team, as seen in "More Than a Game." (Photos by Lionsgate)
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