Brotherhood

Adidas's newest ad campaign, Basketball is a Brotherhood, features NBA All Stars Tracy McGrady, Kevin Garnett, Dwight Howard, Chauncey Billups, Tim Duncan and Gilbert Arenas and a group of 12 high school basketball players at a camp. Yes, we realize it's an ad by a big sports apparel company, but the message that the pros are sharing with these kids about what it means to be a teammate are worth a listen.

Gators Basketball wins America's Team Award

The Florida Gators Men's Basketball team accomplished the unbelievable last year. No, not their second consecutive NCAA championship, but convincing key members of the 2006 championship team to return to school for another year rather than leaving for the pros. Then, Head Coach Billy Donovan turned down a lucrative NBA head coaching job to stay at the school. Clearly there is something special about this program.

For demonstrating true commitment to excellence, the 2007 Gators received the America's Team award (accepted by Assistant Coach Lewis Preston) on November 11. America's Team Founder and CEO Bryan Reichel traveled to Gainesville to present the award.

Go Redmen!

The New York Times featured a story last week about the Smith Center, Kansas Redmen who have won 51 games in a row, three consecutive state championships, and so far have outscored opponents this season 704-0. These numbers are even more remarkable when you consider that the entire high school has only 154 students - more than 60% of male high school students play football.

But more importantly they're great kids. Each member of the football team and all the cheerleaders sign contracts pledging to be alcohol-, drug- and tobacco free. And if they break this pledge, they have to go to the local elementary school and explain why they were kicked off the team.

Says Coach Roger Barta:

“What we do around here real well is raise kids,” Smith Center Coach Roger Barta said. “In fact, we do such a good job at it — and I’m talking about the parents and community — that they go away to school and succeed, and then pursue opportunities in the bigger cities.

“None of this is really about football,” he added. “We’re going to get scored on eventually, and lose a game, and that doesn’t mean anything. What I hope we’re doing is sending kids into life who know that every day means something.”

Watch this audio slideshow and prepare to be inspired. This is what America's Team is all about.

Lady Vols Basketball wins America's Team Award

When you think of excellence in women's college basketball, one team immediately comes to mind - the University of Tennessee Lady Vols. Not only are they a phenomenal group of athletes, they're also a great bunch of ladies. America's Team CEO Bryan Reichel traveled to Knoxville on November 6th to present the 2007 America's Team Award for Women's College Athletics to the Lady Vols.

Bryan had a chance to chat with legendary coach Pat Summit about the new direction of America's Team. She was very complimentary and was interested in learning more about how we're trying to promote excellence both on and off the court as she does in her program.

Are you America's Team?

Welcome to the America's Team blog - we're looking for America's Team '08.

You may have visited our website before, or seen one of our awards being given away to a professional or college team. America's Team began as an award recognizing professional and college teams who exemplified sportsmanship, character and excellence both on and off the field. We believed that teams should be recognized for more than just the amount of wins they had at the end of a season.

Recently, we began to wonder whether there wasn't something more that we could be doing, and the idea of a scholarship contest was born. We are in the early phases of introducing an entirely new America's Team concept. We'll be launching a website in early '08 that will be a place for teams to be nominated for this award. The winner will eventually be chosen by the American public through online voting. Visit our new website for more information and to sign up to receive launch information.