Laos Books

Three years ago, Josh Moore had this to say to a newspaper reporter about his new Virginia High coach Jason Stevens, a former point guard for the Bearcats.

“That first day of practice with Coach Stevens was tough, but he’s a great coach and he had us working hard,” Moore said.

Two days ago, Clay Blankenbeckler has this to say to a newspaper reporter about his new Academy at King coach Jason Stevens.

“He’s tough, but he’s a good coach,” Blankenbeckler said. “He knows what he’s doing.”

And just what is it that this tough, great/good coach is doing?

In 10 years, who knows?

When he closes his eyes, Stevens is leading a high school basketball powerhouse in 2021.

But this summer, he’s gardening.

In the low light of a middle-school gym, he’s planting a seed.

“It’ll grow,” Stevens said.

Getting started

On Monday night, the seed had sprouted four.

On other nights it has produced five, six, even seven buds.

But for Stevens, the magic number is eight.

That’s the minimum number of young men it will take to a form a basketball team this winter, the first basketball team ever at The Academy at King, a burgeoning private high school located in Bristol, Tenn., on the campus of King College.

The goal of the training sessions is simple.

“We’re just trying to find out who’s interested,” Stevens said. “The first couple years are going to be hard – it’s going to be real hard. But we’re committed to doing it.”

At Virginia High, which Stevens coached for two seasons, Bearcats fans often lament the Group A school’s large enrollment deficit when matched up against AAA crosstown rival Tennessee High.

While the school is growing, there still are less than 20 boys currently enrolled for the 2011-12 school year.

“Since there aren’t that many people, you’re going to have to be on the team for it to even work,” said Blankenbeckler, who as a freshman last year played golf and ran cross country.

In addition to golf and cross country, the school also offers track and swimming teams along with the girls volleyball squad. But the boys basketball endeavor represents the first major team-centric sport for guys at the Academy.

“We want to add whatever we can,” Kristofek said. “Whatever numbers-wise we have, we will try our best to get it going.”

Curly fry dreams

“We’d like to be in the Arby’s Classic one day,” Stevens said. “I don’t know if that’s going to happen or not, but that’s one of our goals. It might take five, seven years to get there, but that’s one of our goals for where we want to be at.”

The crew Stevens is leading through summer sweat sessions is made up mostly of rising freshmen and sophomores, many of whom haven’t played organized basketball in years – if ever.

Although he admitted that he’s taking it easier on his new crew – for now – than his old Bearcats teams, Stevens, who sports a thick, dark, sharply parted, perfectly coiffed hairstyle reminiscent of a big-time college coach, still brings a fiery persona to his post.

“If you’re going to go half-speed you shouldn’t even be out here,” Stevens admonished his group Monday night during a basic ball-handling drill. “We don’t do anything half-speed.”

Kristofek witnessed Stevens’ coaching abilities during his inaugural year as the Bearcats boss when he led a team that included Kristofek’s son, Zak, to the state quarterfinals for the first time in 13 years.

It’s not just Stevens’ basketball acumen and motivational talents, though, that Kristofek said made him a natural for the Academy job. Kristofek said it was Stevens’ passion for connecting with kids through the sport that caught her eye.

“He wants to teach them,” she said.

“Long-term vision is to help kids get a better education, maybe bring some kids in that need to get away from their home life where they’re in a mix with something they don’t need to be in to,” he said, envisioning attracting students from even beyond the Tri-Cities area. “… They might not be doing so good in school and they can come up here and get a damn good education.”

Grandiose plans, however, are for the future.

Right now, Stevens said his blueprint for the program is basic.

“Just teamwork and hard work,” he said. “Those two will get you a long way.”

Settling in

But Stevens said he’s committed for the long haul.

“I’m here for awhile,” he said, emphasizing the support he has from the school’s administration. “We’re all on the same page. It’s good to be wanted.”

Stevens started his own successful insurance business in Bristol from scratch and he said there’s nothing more rewarding than taking a project on up from a humble beginning.

“It’s going to be fun,” he said. “I like challenges. I like the aspect of starting something. Hopefully it will be here another 50, 100 years.

“We’re going to start crawling and then we’re going to be walking and then we’re going to be running. It’s going to be a long process, but to build something, that’s neat.”