Attention to detail
By Rob Backus
(published 09/19/05 in the
Grayslake Times)
With basketball season less than three months away, prep
players
across Illinois are currently working hard on their games with the
hopes of not only leading their teams to success but to earn a ride
to a Division I college.
And Dennis Kessel knows exactly what D-I coaches are looking for
when they scout recruits.
“There were always three questions college coaches had,” said Kessel,
a former head boys hoops coach at Mundelein High School. “One, does
he have a quick first step. Two, does he have the ability to create
off the dribble and break down the defense. And three, what is the
kid’s ACT score.”
While Kessel doesn’t have much control over the third question, he’s
spent thousands of hours helping players improve upon the first two.
Short of winning the lottery, not many people are able to retire in
their 40s. However, Kessel was only 44 when he stepped down as head
boys basketball coach at Mundelein High School.
In his 25 years of coaching, including 11 at MHS, Kessel amassed 388
career wins, and was the second youngest coach in Illinois to 200
wins and third youngest to 300.
Though he fell short of the 400-win benchmark, he was still inducted
into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in
April.
But his career in basketball was far from over.
He had spent years working in basketball camps, including those of
famed coach Bobby Knight and former Illinois coach Lou Henson, and,
in 1995, started working them on a more consistent basis.
Two years later, after a meeting with New York Yankees owner George
Steinbrenner in Tampa, Fla., Kessel became head of Rebound Sports’
Chicago hoops program, of which Steinbrenner is a co-owner. Then, in
1999, he decided to go out on his own and started Kessel’s Training.
“One of the things that irritated me when I was working these camps
is that I’d see 20 kids working with one coach, and there wasn’t any
real skill development,” Kessel said. “I wanted a low coach to
player ratio and I wanted kids to be able to see a difference in
their games.”
John Andrews, an eighth grader at Antioch Upper Grade School, has
definitely seen a difference in his game.
“I’ve been in his program since third grade and my game has improve
so much,” said Andrews, 13. “He breaks everything down and makes it
become second nature. And my jump shot has really gotten better
because of him.”
Indeed, while Kessel focuses on all aspects of the game, it’s the
jump shot that has become his trademark.
“I can still shoot,” said Kessel, who’s now 56. “I can’t beat my son
one-on-one anymore, but I can still outshoot him.”
Kessel’s methods are unique because, instead of running kids through
drills like most instructors, he breaks down every individual step
over and over until his players can do it perfectly.
“He gets really in-depth and focuses on the little things,” said
Katelynn Putkonen, 14, a freshman at Grayslake Central. “He’s very
picky and really pushes you to become better.”
“I’m very meticulous,” Kessel said. “I go step by step, because I
don’t want to leave anything to chance. It’s (the camp’s) attention
to detail that makes us a cut above everyone else.”
Not only does Kessel know basketball, but he also knows a thing or
two about college athletes. He was a D-II All-American at Carthage;
his son, Kyle, played hoops at Texas A&M and currently coaches
alongside Dennis; two of his daughters, Shauna and Kandace, played
volleyball at Western Illinois; and his youngest daughter, Brittany,
a 2003 MHS grad, is currently playing basketball at East Tennessee
State.
Kessel has worked with hundreds of players over the years and has
also had quite a few accomplished players come through his program.
In recent years, he’s worked with Carmel’s Jenny Eckhart (Syracuse),
Mundelein’s Sarah Miller (Western Illinois), Warren’s Amy Peters
(Bradley), and Lake Forest’s Kristin Cartwright (Northwestern) and
Ryan Paxson (Olivet-Nazarene). In all, he’s coached 28 D-1 players
during his career.
But unlike most instructors, Kessel doesn’t recruit only the best
players, preferring instead to work with a wide range of talent.
“My goal is to make kids good enough to live their dream of making
whatever team they want,” said Kessel, who also works with the
feeder programs for MHS and Barrington High School. “I want to make
the average player into a good player and a good player into a great
player.”
His current seven-week program, which runs primarily out of the
Libertyville Sports Complex, has 225 kids from across Lake, Cook and
McHenry counties in 14 separate clinics. Winter, spring and summer
programs are also available.
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