I was one of the lucky ones invited to the Akron premiere of the movie “More Than A Game” at the amazingly beautful Akron Civic Theater. The film is the documentary about the St. Vincent-St. Mary team that included LeBron James, Romeo Travis, Dru Joyce III, Willie McGee and Sian Cotton – and was coached by Dru Joyce II.
It was an excellent movie, with humor, insight and touching moments. “Coach Dru” stood out to me for the way he handled his team. No yelling, no maniacal coaching tricks, no tirades. He spoke to his players like men, and he tried to get them to respond like men.
I recommend it.
After the showing, James, “Coach Dru,” Dru III, McGee and Cotton joined Director Kristopher Belman and took questions from the audience for about 20 minutes. There were tributes, questions about how to encourage kids to pursue their dreams, heartfelt thanks … that kind of stuff. Then James — who was wearing a blue, V-neck, striped sweater — pointed to two teenagers in the crowd and said to take the final two from them.
A 17-year-old named Mike asked the last one. He pointed out how inspiring the movie was, and said it made him want to go to work right away and get better, jump higher. He concluded by saying he wanted to ask James a question about his sweater: “Did you lose a bet to wear that tonight?”
