Darting Basketball Academy: Kerry Darting
Photos by John Burns
On the outside, Darting Basketball Academy is a basketball club focused on helping kids grow their skill level. But to Owner Kerry Darting, it’s about teaching lessons that resonate beyond the final buzzer.
Darting Basketball Academy helps kids from third grade to 12th grade improve their fundamental basketball skills. Their core program is their 18-week skills academy, where players come once a week for an hour to practice in a small group of kids with similar skill levels.
The training environment at Darting Basketball Academy feels different than what kids likely experience during their regular season.
“There’s always a score being kept, always parents in the crowd and referees. It’s hard for kids to make mistakes and be OK with it,” said Darting.ut at the Academy, mistakes are encouraged, something Darting said takes some time for kids to get used to.
“In those first couple of weeks, they’re so passive, and they’re scared to do things they’ve never done,” said Darting. “But around seven weeks in, that’s when the improvement really starts to take off.”
While some students come in as star players with their eyes on college scholarships, some simply want to make their school team. “I just want to get kids better,” said Darting. “Better is different for everyone. It’s fun when you watch kids work so hard and it pays off.”
Broken up into two, nine- week semesters, the program ends in mid-October, just in time for their school team to start up.
“Basketball is a sport where you need to practice a lot,” said Daring. “By October, we hope we were able to develop their skills and competence to where kids can have some success during their seasons.”
BRINGING HIS CAREER HOME
Darting started his own basketball career in Topeka before playing college ball at Kansas State University and Missouri S&T. After college, he started coaching at his alma mater before moving on to Division 1 schools.
After six years of fast- paced seasons and countless nights in hotels, Darting felt a pull to return to Topeka. Not long after he was back in town, Darting started getting requests from family friends to coach their kids. 10 kids quickly multiplied to over 100.
“It was obvious Topeka needed a place like Darting Basketball Academy,” said Darting.
Six months after his return home, Darting Basketball Academy welcomed its first students. Within the first year, 160 kids signed up. Today, there are 350 members and three Darting Basketball Academy locations.
KEY CONNECTIONS
Members of the Academy benefit from Darting’s experience with some of the best in the game. His high- profile clients include the likes of Devonte Graham and Tim Hardaway Jr. Through his mentor Tim Jankovich, former Assistant Coach at Kansas University under Bill Self and current Head Coach at Southern Methodist University (SMU), Darting learned the skills he passes on to his students today.
And, of course, having a dad like Ken Darting, a high school and college coach with his own list of star players, adds to Darting’s impressive Rolodex.
“It’s really cool to use my connections and bring it back to the Topeka community,” he said.
But beyond instilling players with fundamental skills, Darting hopes to reach kids on a different level.
“Coaching is just a bridge to connect with kids,” Darting said. “That’s the bigger purpose of the Academy. Obviously, we’re developing basketball skills, but our responsibilities are way more than basketball.”
Darting said the life lessons in sports like basketball are huge in building confidence as well as learning to accept mistakes and move on from losses.
“I don’t even think kids realize they’re getting those lessons when they’re going through it,” said Darting. “But I know for me personally, I’ve been able to look back and see that a lot of my successes, those lessons were learned through basketball.”
