Editor’s note: This is the second in a three-part series looking at how local families have utilized travel sports as a means to secure athletic scholarships to college.
When Dylan Langkabel’s skill level caught up to his work ethic, the doors to the world of college basketball swung wide open.
Morristown’s second greatest scorer, who finished his high school career with just over 2,000 points, admits he was never a can’t-miss prospect. That might surprise those coaches and players in the Mid-Hoosier Conference who could rarely keep him under 20 points a game.
Langkabel didn’t end up at Duke playing for coach Mike Krzyzewski. He didn’t even field a Division I offer that fit his bill of needs. What he did find was a Division II university with a business school with an outstanding reputation.
“That really caught my eye,” said Langkabel, who has spent his first summer after his freshman year at Northwood University back in Morristown.
The Midland, Mich., university offered Langkabel a full-ride athletic scholarship worth approximately $175,000.
The success of a university’s athletic teams can directly impact the financial health of the institution. A perfect example is the national growth of Butler University after its men’s basketball team produced back-to-back Final Four appearances.
Athletes are the most visible representatives of a university, so making sure they take advantage of a “free” six-figure education is crucial.
“I think those children (on scholarship) are fortunate to be overseen,” said Dylan’s mother, Kristi. “(The university) wants to help them. They want to get them to graduation. I found that fantastic as a parent.”
The stories of a young Dylan Langkabel sneaking into the Bee Hive at the high school to shoot hoops are no longer a secret. The desire to get better drives him daily.
There was no rush, though, from the family to get Dylan into a quality AAU program.
“I wasn’t really interested in it,” he said. “I wasn’t that good until seventh or eighth grade, then I asked my coach what else I could do in the summer.”
Then Morristown High School boys’ basketball coach Scott McClelland helped Dylan get hooked up with Indiana Elite, where he started on a low-level team.
Each successive year he moved up the ranks, eventually earning a spot on the Eric Gordon All-Stars, sponsored by the former Indiana University star and current member of the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans.
“I had to work my way up there,” Dylan said.
Following Dylan’s progress became much more expensive once he reached the elite status of playing for a team that has a NBA player’s name on its jerseys. The team flew to Las Vegas. It flew to Orlando. It even flew to Pittsburgh.
So the Langkabels went from paying a modest yearly registration fee to Indiana Elite and traveling around the region, to paying nothing more than a nominal fee for him to play for Eric Gordon’s AAU team, but dealing with much greater travel expenses for a family of five.
The funny thing is, while Dylan loved playing for such an elite organization and all the pressure that came with competing in front of the country’s top collegiate basketball coaches, he fondly recalls his earlier days of AAU.
“I thought those first years were the most fun years of AAU just because you played all the time,” said Dylan. “That was when you were traveling with the family.”
The Langkabels have two younger children now immersed in the AAU basketball world. Hayden enters the eighth grade this year at Morristown Junior High School. Brooklyn is a seventh grader.
Both look up to Dylan as a role model. And he has embraced his own leadership role with them, and the next group of basketball players that have an eye on playing for the Yellow Jackets someday.
While coming home from Northwood in May, Dylan worked out the final details with his father, Leigh, with regard to an AAU basketball program for Morristown’s youth. Thus, the Timberwolves were born.
“He’s taking what he’s learned and passing it back on to the children,” said Kristi.
There is little doubt Dylan still has a passion for playing the game, but he has been severely bitten by the coaching bug.
“I like coaching,” said Dylan. “It’s fun to see them improve as time goes on. I enjoy that.
“That’s something as a player that I always liked more than actually going and playing the game… the individual times in the gym getting better… seeing yourself improve.”
Dylan rarely looked frazzled on the court during his high school career. He was a cool customer. Now his personality is showing through with his team of incoming eighth-graders.
“He coaches with the same temperament that he played with,” said Leigh. “He’s very calm in the huddles during timeouts. The kids are very calm. They play calm. They play Dylan’s style of basketball. It’s neat to see.”
There was no registration fee to join the Timberwolves. The Langkabels fronted the initial costs, but local parents and businesses donated enough to cover the operating expenses. Now there is talk of expansion.
Both Hayden and Brooklyn have been given tremendous head starts when it comes to college thanks to a family that has grown closer through the love of basketball.
“Hayden understands how important college is, and a scholarship is a great way to get there,” said Kristi. “He’s been mentored wonderfully by Dylan.”
And thanks to Dylan’s ability to secure a scholarship, the Langkabels can continue to invest in the community – and their own family.
“I think it brings you together and keeps you close as a family because your all together,” said Kristi.
From www.shelbynews.com
Source:
http://nba.express900.com/2013/08/02/langkabels-success-benefiting-youth/
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