MoeDee Basketball

MoeDee’s Basketball is a non-profit organization that promotes the total development of youth through sports and life-skill training. We work with student-athletes to develop their strengths and help them succeed on and off the basketball court. Success in our program is measured by teamwork and not by scoring. This type of coaching helps players embrace basketball’s life values. Teamwork, effort, consistency and handling adversity are what we teach in our practices, skills training, and games.

Here is a more detailed explanation of MoeDee’s Basketball core character traits and values that we instill in all of our player.

● Self-confidence, the ability to believe in yourself and to give unlimited effort to meet full potential.

● Sportsmanship, the ability to diligently compete and respect your opponent.

● Communication, the ability to send and receive instructions constructively.

● Selflessness, the ability to sacrifice yourself for the betterment of the team

I learned these principles playing for various youth coaches, in different sports, growing up in inner-city Detroit. I was blessed to have 4 youth coaches whose influence on me stretched far beyond the basketball court, baseball and football fields.

Howard King, Eddie Hejka, Tom Ashley and Dave Sowders were incredible mentors and really invested in me as a person. They each made me feel loved and that they always had my best interests. How they treated me, made me trust them and buy into their coaching.

As a coach today, my biggest goal is to make the children I coach feel the same about me, as I did when I played for my favorite coaches.

Howard King still lives in the North Corktown neighborhood I grew up in and working hard to help teens and make our community better. Here is an article in the Detroit Free Press detailing his great work.

Years ago, he got into trouble in North Corktown. Many people won't forget. So ever since, he’s worked to redeem his neighborhood – and his name.
by John Carlisle, Detroit Free Press
Updated 8:00 a.m. MST Dec. 12, 2018

The truck turned a corner and crawled down another half-empty street.

“I’m telling you, listen, next week we’re going to start our exercise program, and if you don’t do it I’m going to cut your pay,” Howard King said to his passenger, a small 16-year-old named ..... DETROIT FREE PRESS STORY