A saga of kids playing hoops - and learning to live with success

This deeply affecting documentary benefits immeasurably from serendipity.

As part of a course requirement, an undergraduate filmmaker in 2002 decided to train his camera on a winning high school basketball team from his hometown of Akron, Ohio.

The two-week academic project turned into a six-year labor of love as Kristopher Belman delved into the backgrounds of those players and their families.

All that work would probably have resulted in a little-seen and quickly forgotten documentary.

Except that in the meantime, the cynosure of that St. Vincent-St. Mary's squad had exploded into a sports phenomenon, the all-world basketball star LeBron James.

Because of Belman's unprecedented access, he was besieged with offers for his footage by producers eager to package some variation on LeBron: The Early Years.

To his credit, Belman was determined to tell a different, more personal kind of story. And that is what gives More Than a Game its power.

This modest but marvelous film follows a corps of skinny kids who began playing hoops together as 11-year-olds on dingy baskets at a Salvation Army court in Akron.

They quickly formed a remarkable and unshakable bond of friendship that would sustain them through challenges on and off the court for the better part of the next decade.

The focus is on Dru Joyce II, who coached the boys as a young travel team as well as during their tumultuous final two years of high school. Joyce has a rocky relationship with his son Dru III, the team's conspicuously undersized but proud point guard.

Other personalities emerge, like Willie McGee, who escaped the brutal projects of Chicago to be raised by his older brother, Illya.

More Than a Game examines the impoverished circumstances of all these boys, including LeBron's, who endured an unstable and nomadic childhood with his single mother.

The team was rocketed to disorienting heights during the players' junior year, when LeBron's size, talent, and reputation fully blossomed. The majestically mature 16-year-old was hailed as "The Chosen One" on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Suddenly, the roster from Rubber City found itself playing in pro and college arenas, with tickets being scalped and autograph seekers waiting outside. Marinated in all that attention, the young athletes became arrogant and snappish.

In a manner reminiscent of The Miracle of St. Anthony, the classic high school basketball book by Adrian Wojnarowski, the team gets one last chance to accomplish its long-cherished goals together during senior year.

This saga is a stirring blend of story and imagery, of poignancy and excitement. More Than a Game is more than a sports documentary.EndText

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