By Ben Rodgers
Staff Writer
HOBART - Chances are if you are watching a prep basketball game this season, Ryan Borowicz has worked with some of the players on the court.
Borowicz owns The Driveway, a basketball training center and for more than a decade has worked with close to 20,000 young players.
“I can look at all the box scores and usually I’ve worked with a program or three to five players with every team,” Borowicz said.
The Driveway, located at 1220 Flight Way Drive, opened in June of 2016. But for 10 years before that Borowicz had made trips across the state to hold clinics.
From programs in the Green Bay area, to schools in the Fox Valley, to small towns like Hilbert and even up north to Hurley, the former UW-Green Bay Phoenix basketball standout has been teaching the game far and wide.
“Inspiring improvement is what I want to do,” he said. “A lot of kids think it’s someone else’s job to make them better. If you want to get better at basketball, or anything, it’s your job to do the work, and it’s my job to inspire that.”
As a player Borowicz put in hard work and it led to results.
He held the Ashwaubenon High School scoring record for 20 years.
After high school he was recruited to the Phoenix by legendary coach Dick Bennett. He went to the NCAA tournament twice and finished his senior season no. 4 in the country for three point percentage. After graduation he went on to player overseas for a number of teams.
“I draw on all the experiences I’ve had through basketball, whether it was as a little kid looking up to Tony Bennett at Green Bay, or as a player. I’ve been to 12 countries just because of basketball,” Borowicz said. “If you can relate to kids that this can be you, you can inspire them.”
Borowicz is big on vision, hard work, and passion. It helped him as a player and now as a business owner.
He worked at Appleton Alliance Church for 10 years, while conducting clinics in his spare time. He also searched through a plethora of possible locations before he decided building from scratch was the best way to go. He worked with banks and village boards to get where he is today with his own 10,080 square foot facility.
“I’ve always had this in my mind, this facility,” he said. “I wanted a place where people come and it’s just basketball, there’s no frills about it, people could just come and improve.”
Borowicz knew Hobart was the place for that after his long search.
“Hobart was great to work with right from the get go,” he said. “Once I started working with Hobart I didn’t look anywhere else.”
Even with his home base Borowicz still travels, but he wants to reach even more players.
Borowicz also just wrapped up filming a training video to help kids with catching and shooting. The next ones will be shooting on the move, and shooting off the dribble.
Called “The Kinetic Shooter,” the videos are aimed for high school coaches, parents and even kids.
Digital downloads will be available and kids can watch drills on their phone and then go practice.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re a fourth grade girl or an NBA player, the basic mechanics are the same, and in the video the kinetic energy and mechanics are what I’m focusing on.”
More information can be found online at rbbasketball.com, or on Facebook by liking Ryan Borowicz Basketball.
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