By Mark Ambrogi
Former Indiana Pacers guard Eddie Gill forged his 12-year professional basketball career with hard work.
Now he wants to share his message of “Hard work beats talent if talent doesn’t work hard” with youngsters.
“I thoroughly enjoy working with kids,” Gill said. “I feel like it is a form of giving back to the community as well. Indianapolis has been great for me and my family. I’ve been here since 2004. It’s obviously a hotbed for basketball. There are a lot of times that kids are coming up and they’re not necessarily learning the correct way. I want to take time to give back and teach the game the right way.”
Gill played in 187 games for six teams in seven seasons in the NBA, including the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons with the Pacers. He also played in Europe and Australia and the NBA Development League.
Gill, a Carmel resident, spent the first week of December as a teaching volunteer in Peggy Grimmer’s third- and fourth-grade physical education classes at Oak Trace Elementary in Westfield.
“He’s been teaching them about hard work and having a positive attitude and if you have those two things you can achieve anything,” Grimmer said. “He’s just a great role model for these kids. We think it’s awesome that he’s volunteering his time to come to our school and share his talent and abilities with us.
“He talks about the hard work and dedication it takes to make it at that level. You don’t have to be born with talent as long as you are willing to work hard.”
Oak Trace third-grader Dominic Parisi said having a former Pacers player “helping us getting better at basketball was fun. I never met a real Pacers player before.”
Fellow Oak Trace third-grader Nathan Luprich said Gill offered some good tips.
“He taught us to dribble to the side a lot, not in front so they don’t steal the ball,” Gill said.
Gill, 36, lives in Carmel with his wife Marisa and two children, who play basketball. His son Eddie, 14, is on the Carmel High School freshman team, and daughter Kiara, 12, is on Creekside Middle School girls seventh-grade squad.
“We got a place here in 2004 and I went to play in a lot of places afterwards, but this was my home base,” said Gill, who retired in 2012 after playing his final season in Australia.
Gill has been running All Out Training for about two years, teaching basketball fundamentals for boys and girls. Gill said this was a natural fit since throughout his career he participated in camps and NBA Cares.
On Sundays, Gill holds training sessions at The Jungle, 16707 Southpark Dr., in Westfield. He also has individual and group sessions at the SportZone in Indianapolis.
“I love to see the personalities,” Gill said. “After they’ve struggled and then had some success, the look on their faces is priceless. I get a kick out of that for sure.”
For more information on Gill’s training, visit www.allout-eddiegill.com.
Gill said with the internet children can search to learn of his professional career.
“They may not remember me. I was playing before some of them were born,” Gill said. “But they recognize who the Pacers are.”
