SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — As the temperature rises, so does the number of local Syracuse AAU basketball teams. Yet, there is one team who’s stood the test of time, Syracuse Select.
Syracuse Select has made a positive impact in the Syracuse community for over 20 years, and focuses on implementing values, discipline, and more into the mindsets of the youth. They’ve helped produce the All-American likes of Dajuan Coleman, former Syracuse University star, and Greg Paulus, former four-year player at Duke University.
“We want to not only instill basketball skills onto you, but moral skills and overall good people skills,” said Akeem Mottley, general manager for the Syracuse Select.
Mottley says he joined the program not as a player, but as a scorekeeper as a teen. He eventually joined the roster later on in high school. But the program came at a pivotal time in his life, because his mischievous behavior became noticeable to those around him.
“I swore on my sister one time in front of my mother,” Mottley said. “I was just trying to act like something that I wasn’t.”
Shawn Pundey, director for the Syracuse Select, was best friends with Mottley’s uncle, and placed Mottley in the program to help steer him away from the wrong crowd. Mottley credits Pundey with “saving his life.”
“The person that you’re looking at today would not have been the person today without Shawn,” Mottley said. “I couldn’t sit in front of this camera and speak to you the way I’m speaking to you without Shawn.”
Among those who praise the program is Nat Trombley, father of Alex Trombley, who plays for the team. Trombley credits Mottley and the mentors with his son’s improvement.
“They’re constantly mentoring everybody while they’re there,” Trombley said. “The people we play with, are more like family than teammates.”
Mottley enjoys his new path helping steer kids away from the wrong crowd, helping kids improve their skill set in basketball, and getting to call it his career.