D1 Sports Academy sets up camp at Siena Heights University

By MICKEY ALVARADO

Siena Heights University will be seeing a whole lot more of Lenawee County's younger athletes pass through its facilities as host to numerous events being coordinated by the recently created D1 Sports Academy.

A trio of veteran coaches started the sports academy just two months ago due to the lack of camps and training offered locally in several different sporting venues. The three founders are well known throughout Lenawee County and immediately brought credibility to the D1 Sports Academy with their many years of combined experiences. Siena Heights Athletic Director, Fred Smith, the Saints' head men's basketball coach, Al Sandifer, and Clinton Middle School teacher and coach Mike Howe are the ones getting everything going. The group is backed by 25 to 30 other local coaches from collegiate to high school levels.

The main focus of the academy is to include individuals of all age groups so they can get a good look at what Siena Heights is all about, but just as important, assist in building long-lasting relationships with other athletes and coaches while improving their abilities in their preferred sports.

Currently there are several events scheduled and listed on the academy's website, www.D1sportsacademy.org.

The First Annual Firecracker 2-vs-2 is a five-division event set for July 4, at Siena Heights University, and the following weekend, on July 11, the First Gibraltar Carlson 2-vs-2 Basketball Tournament will be held.

The 20th Annual Saints Basketball Camp will take place from July 13-17 while the First Annual 'Howe' To Train and Be Ready For Football Camp is from August 17-21.

Three Maple City Shootout pre-season basketball scrimmages are scheduled for November.

Next year, Smith hopes to host a High School Holiday Basketball Tournament and is expecting three out of the four teams participating to be from Lenawee County. He believes the games have the potential to draw many of the county's most enthusiastic basketball fans.

“It would be something that would draw our county together,” said Smith. “They could watch basketball in a good venue with a lot of people...We don't have an announcement yet but it's going to happen.”

Howe had the initial insight in forming the academy, and he approached Smith to see if he was interested in getting involved. Howe thought it could be profitable for both the promoters and participants but more importantly it would help out our local kids.

“We sat down and did some brainstorming, saying what can we do to offer the community,” said Howe. “And of course, we all love all sports.”

Considerations are being made for many of the sports played in the county including your basic bread and butter brands; basketball, baseball, softball, track and field and football and also to be included in the future are volleyball, soccer, lacrosse, cross-country and golf.

“We'd like to get all the sports involved eventually,” said Howe. “The bottom line is to get people to Siena Heights, to get people to see the facilities and let parents and relatives stay locally to watch their kids play.”

The D1 Sports Academy mission is to introduce people to a multitude of athletics, leadership, and mental aspects of the most up to date training philosophies that will enable athletes or coaches to reach their maximum level of performance. Athletes will be instructed and mentored on how to achieve their peak performance from personal training sessions.

Training for both the body and mind will be offered by the academy with Smith and Sandifer having a majority of experience in coaching while Howe's expertise is in preparation, physically and mentally, for intense competition.

The mission statement says, “Every student-athlete-coach-parent will be empowered in mind, body and spirit. We will encourage and uplift participants allowing them to experience our heart's passion.”    

The highly acclaimed Gray Institute in Adrian will also be utilized in assisting and advising the academy's staff. Working with personal trainer Gary Gray and his staff has allowed the academy founders to tap into 30-plus years of international functional training expertise. By incorporating the Gray Institutes' cutting edge instructional and training videos, they are able to make the academy the most current and desired in its class.

“We don't want to take anything away from what other schools are doing,” said Smith. “We want to be able to add to their programs and make them even better.”

All three founders have worked with elite athletes in a lot of great places, but their intention is not to create superstars.

“We would like to use sport as more of a vehicle,” said Smith. “It replicates the struggles we all have in life. Those lessons are very simple to some people but they have to be reminded. Through our programs, we will hopefully teach them how to meet other people, play by the rules, and learn mental toughness. In sports in general, you have to answer the bell when things are at their worst.”

In the near future, athletic/sports/training seminars will be available to everyone. Professional speakers are being retained to visit the university and share their expertise on functional training. The topics will vary depending on individual client needs.

“When people find out they're great about offering time to help,” said Howe.
Credentials

Smith is a hall of fame coach who averaged 25 wins a season (527-188) as the Saints head men's basketball coach. He advanced to the NAIA National Basketball tournament 12 times including nine seasons in a row from 1996-2004. Smith has been named NAIA District Coach of the Year three times and Wolverine-Hoosier Conference Coach of the Year four times.  He was also named NAIA Regional Coach of the Year and Basketball Coaches of Michigan (BCAM) Coach of the year in 1997 when the Saints finished as National runner-ups.

Smith was inducted in the NAIA Hall of Fame in March 2006 and is in his 25th year as Director of Athletics at Siena. An Adrian native and a graduate of Adrian High School, Smith founded and ran the Saints Basketball Camp for 16 years.

Howe is a Clinton teacher who has coached and trained athletes for 36 years. He brings a variety of skills and educational training talents that enable him to develop athletes of all ages.  He's instructed clinics and camps for basketball, football, softball and track at both the middle and high school levels.  Howe holds a Bachelors of Science degree in English literature and a Masters of Arts in educational leadership from Eastern Michigan University.

Howe is currently assisting with the development of Free 2 Play, a physical education program that trains student athletes as if they were professionals. A few of the athletes that Howe has trained and coached have excelled and progressed to the collegiate and professional levels.

Coach Sandifer is in his third season as the Saints head men's basketball coach after serving as interim for part of the '06-'07 season. In his first year, Sandifer led the Saints to a 10-21 record and increased the Saints win total from the previous year by 150 percent.

Sandifer came to the Saints in 1976 as a freshman basketball recruit and has been a part of Siena Heights athletics for the better part of four decades. In 1978, he was named Siena Heights College's Athlete of the Year. He was elected the Team MVP of the Saints 31 years ago in the 1977-78 season. Sandifer also spent three years at Adrian High School, where he compiled a 52-18 record as head boy's basketball coach. He was named Lenawee County Coach of the Year in 1999. Sandifer also served as the men's golf coach at Siena Heights University.

He is currently the business manager for the athletic department. Sandifer runs the highly respected “Camp of Champions” each summer and founded the “Hoopster” program, which brings more than 800 youngsters to campus each year.

“We're certainly keeping our prices low,” said Sandifer. “Comparing what we're doing with other folks our cost is a fraction of theirs.”
If interested in joining the Firecracker 2-on-2, call Sandifer at 264.7869. For more information on the sports academy, go to www.D1sportsacademy.org.