2014 Camp Photos

Chris Evans, Carlton Guyton and Justin Manns were
among the alums who helped out throughout the week.

Justin Greene officiates a game.

Marquiez Lawrence discusses strategy with a camper. 

Kellon Thomas instructs his team to get back on
defense after scoring a basket.

Head coach Rob Senderoff instruct campers.

Kellon Thomas and Jon Fleming coach opposing teams.

Justin Greene officiates a game.

Raasean Davis, Justin Greene and Chris Ortiz
converse between camp sessions.

Darren Goodson stopped by after finishing a workout in
the weight room with the football team. 

Director of Operations Mike McKee demonstrates a ballhandling drill. 

Raasean Davis instructs a camper during a game.

Chris Ortiz shares a laugh with a camper.

Raasean Davis high fives a camper after scoring a basket. 

Gary Akbar watches his team compete in a game.

Camp week provides opportunity to interact with our youngest fans

Note: Kellon Thomas is a junior on the Kent State men's basketball team and is working for the Athletics Communication department during the Summer to fulfill a requirement of his Practicum I in Sport Administration course. As part of this course, Kellon will be doing a weekly blog to give fans an inside look at how the Golden Flashes are preparing for the 2014-15 season.

This week started off with an hour-long team workout on Sunday night. We worked on some ball screen drills, post entries, and some of the offense we will be running this year. The summer is a good time to do things like this because everything isn’t always so fast-paced and it gives Coach Sendy time to explain and coach our young and new guys.

We also had youth camp this week, which shifted our schedule around a little bit. Half of our team worked the morning session and the other in the afternoon. I always look forward to the youth camp because it gives us a chance to interact with kids that come to our games and support us and to just have fun with these kids while teaching them about basketball.

In addition to camp, we still had our individual workouts Tuesday and Thursday, weights Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, and conditioning on Friday. Add in going to class and it was a full week for everybody on the team.

The first three weeks of our eight-week summer program are completed, and I can see our team improving and bonding more. I think we have become more comfortable and used to working hard with each other. This will make us better in the long run and help us win a MAC title. 

NBA Finals show blueprint for becoming champions

Note: Kellon Thomas is a junior on the Kent State men's basketball team and is working for the Athletics Communication department during the Summer to fulfill a requirement of his Practicum I in Sport Administration course. As part of this course, Kellon will be doing a weekly blog to give fans an inside look at how the Golden Flashes are preparing for the 2014-15 season

This week was similar to the first one for us with weightlifting four times and individual skill work three days. We are making big strides in the weight room with Coach Bob. I have seen big improvements in all of our post players, especially Khaliq Spicer and Marquiez Lawrence. One of our keys to winning is being tougher mentally and physically than other teams. That is how it has been at Kent State in the past with teams that have won championships, and we are trying to get back to that and keep the tradition going.

With it being the summer, we are working on a lot of individual skills that will help us become better players. But our goal is to ultimately win the MAC Championship and then the National Championship. All our coaches and staff have gotten us to have a mindset that is all about winning.

After our individual workouts on Monday, Coach Sendy talked to us about how our main focus should be the on the success of the team first, and then individual goals will come. We all followed the NBA playoffs closely, so he used the example of the San Antonio Spurs, who had won the NBA championship the previous night.

He said that even though Miami had the best player in LeBron James and a very talented team, it was not enough to win a championship. The Spurs followed the game plan put together by their coaches and did whatever it took to win. It was Kawhi Leonard—not Tim Duncan, Tony Parker or Manu Ginobili—who was named Finals MVP. Those guys weren’t focused on their own numbers and trusted their teammates to get the job done. That is how we need to play next season so that we can become champions.

Back to work with first week of training

Note: Kellon Thomas is a junior on the Kent State men's basketball team and is working for the Athletics Communication department during the Summer to fulfill a requirement of his Practicum I in Sport Administration course. As part of this course, Kellon will be doing a weekly blog to give fans an inside look at how the Golden Flashes are preparing for the 2014-15 season

This was our first week back on campus and our team got right back into things. We have a total of 12 guys here right now. Gary Akbar and Raasean Davis are the only newcomers while everybody else was here for the spring workouts. Our training schedule for the summer keeps us busy with lifting 4 days a week and then conditioning and team-building activities on Fridays. Additionally, we have individual workouts 3 days a week to work on basketball skills. 

Personally, I feel good about the first week and the progress we have made. My knee and body are doing a lot better. I get treatment once or sometimes even multiple times a day to make sure I stay healthy. After being forced to the sideline as a spectator last summer, it feels great to be able to go through the off-season grind with all of my teammates. Everybody on our team knows that this summer must be a big one for us to have the type of season we expect next year and I think taking that approach will allow us to get back to playing Kent State Basketball. 

Players return for start of summer school, training

By Rob Senderoff

Head Coach

This a great time of year. Summer school started today and we have 12 of our guys on campus right now. There are a couple of guys we are hoping will get here later for the Summer III session, which starts in July.

We had our first team meeting Sunday night and it was great seeing everybody. All of our guys that are here were cleared by the doctors to participate in our 8-week summer program, which began today.

That 8-week program consists of lifting 4 days a week, along with some conditioning and 2 hours a week of basketball skill instruction. We started up with lifting this afternoon and the basketball skill instruction will begin tomorrow.

This is a really important time for our guys. It’s important for our new guys to get acclimated to how we do things here. Of our returning guys, I’m expecting to see our 4 seniors—Kris Brewer, Derek Jackson, Dev Manley and Blake Vedder— start to lead our team the way it’s supposed to be led during the summer. Knowing this is their last year of college basketball, I hope to see that reflected in how they approach this summer. 

And then on the academic side of things, being able to take classes during the summer helps our guys to stay ahead for graduation purposes. There is a lot less going on and it allows them more time to focus on their schoolwork as well.