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'More Than a Game'
New documentary explores a basketball-winning formula of family, friends, faith
Of active basketball stars, Kobe Bryant may have most name recognition, but 6-foot-8-inch LeBron James, the highest-paid player in the NBA, drafted out of high school by the Cleveland Cavaliers, has caught the popular imagination. Now, with "More Than a.Game," a new documentary by first-time director Kristopher Belman, we get to see inside the heart and soul of a basketball champion and the family and friends who made him who he is.
When Belman, a native of Akron, Ohio, was an undergradu- ate film school student at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles in 2002, he was required to make a 10-minute film for his production course. "I was commit- ted to telling a story about my hometown," Belman told me in an interview. "During my research I read an article about these four African-American kids in Akron: LeBron James, Sian Cotton, James Dru Joyce ?? and Willie McGee - 'The Fabulous Four.' What was so remarkable was this brief blurb saying that these boys, three of them from the inner city, had played together as kids and then chose to stay together for high school. Who does that?"
This prompted Belman to get in touch with St. Vincent-St. Mary High School. As a non-member of the press, Belman was given unusual access and began traveling and filming the team. They called him "Camera Man."
"I was impressed by their unique friendship after 10 minutes with them," he said. "It was such a refreshing surprise."
Belman's project became the nucleus of "More Than a Game," which was cowritten with Brau* Hogan.
Coach Dru Joyce II recruited LeBron, Sian and Willie when they were in middle school to be part...