Art students overcome arty stereotype, form basketball team

PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND - Joe Gebbia wants to set the record straight, that art students can be athletes too. <br> <br> ``People think of art students as artsy-fartsy people who just like to paint,&#39;&#39; says the 20-year-old Rhode Island School of Design sophomore. ``When they think of an art school, they don&#39;t think of sports.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> You could call them the Bad News Balls, but Gebbia, a graphic design student from Atlanta, has taken his job seriously as founder, coach and teammate of the first RISD basketball team since 1953. <br> <br> They&#39;re known simply as the RISD Balls, and they take to the courts with a certain flair: donning personally designed jerseys. <br> <br> ``One of my lifelong dreams was to play college basketball,&#39;&#39; he said. ``This will be the closest I&#39;ll come to it.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Fourteen students including one woman have joined Gebbia this season for weekly practices and a roster of eight games against universities and colleges throughout New England some of which are Division III teams. The Balls play in an Independent league. <br> <br> There were no try outs, no cuts. The only requirement, Gebbia says, was that players ``had to have a passion for basketball.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> ``We take whoever says &#39;yes.&#39; We have to get started somehow.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> A shortage of athletes has not been one of the problems Gebbia&#39;s had to face in forming a basketball team at RISD. There are plenty of athletes there. <br> <br> Getting the respect of other coaches, however, has proven more difficult. <br> <br> ``Sometimes they ask, &#39;Where&#39;s your coach?&#39; When I tell them it&#39;s me, they don&#39;t always want to offer a handshake or acknowledge it,&#39;&#39; he said. <br> <br> Last month, the Balls played against Clark University&#39;s junior varsity team (RISD lost 94-49). About 150 fans, including the RISD Jock Straps the cheerleading squad showed up at RISD&#39;s Wheeler School Gym on the East Side to cheer them on. <br> <br> RISD President Roger Mandle was tip-off guest, RISD break dancers performed at halftime and featured a half court shot competition for a $100 gift certificate to the RISD store. <br> <br> ``Even fans from the other team started to cheer for us,&#39;&#39; said teammate Alkis Dikaios, 23, of Cyprus, Greece, wearing one of the team&#39;s maroon and white jerseys with its logo two basketballs swishing through a net. <br> <br> Despite their 0-2 record, the Balls are hard spirits to get down. <br> <br> ``We practice three hours each week, meanwhile we play teams that practice every day. We have potential,&#39;&#39; Gebbia said. <br> <br> Besides limited practice hours, the team isn&#39;t exactly working on the advantage of player height against other teams. The team&#39;s average height is 5&#39;10&#39;&#39; with the shortest player standing at 5&#39;4&#39;&#39;, and the tallest at 6&#39;3&#39;&#39;. <br> <br> There are 2,000 students enrolled at RISD. Students spend long hours in studios and classrooms painting, etching, sculpting, photographing, designing and studying liberal arts courses. <br> <br> Still, some students say athletics does have its place at the art institute. <br> <br> ``It&#39;s a good stress reliever,&#39;&#39; said Anthony Petrie, 19, a sophomore from Long Island, N.Y. ``It&#39;s also a good way to meet people.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> RISD is not the only art school in the country that offers sports programs to its students. Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, Pratt in Brooklyn, N.Y., Cooper Union in New York City, and the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan all offer sports some are even nationally ranked in Division III athletics. <br> <br> ``It&#39;s important to not only develop the mind, but the body as well,&#39;&#39; said Karen Ryan, who coaches women&#39;s volleyball and softball at Savannah College of Art and Design. ``You can do that through art and athletics.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> There are 283 student-athletes at SCAD, according to Ryan. Since 1990, the college has formed 17 athletic teams including men&#39;s and women&#39;s basketball, cross-country, soccer, volleyball, golf, tennis, baseball and softball. These teams compete against other NCAA Division III teams. There&#39;s also rowing and an equestrian program. <br> <br> ``The other teams at first thought SCAD&#39;s uniforms were going to be crazy and players would have spiked hair,&#39;&#39; she said. <br> <br> At Cooper Union, 110 of its 860 students play on sports teams, said Stephen Baker, dean of students. <br> <br> The school offers varsity basketball, tennis, volleyball, baseball, soccer and Frisbee. All, except Frisbee, are Division III teams. <br> <br> ``There are no gyms, no courts, no fields, no pool, no horses, no time and no excuses,&#39;&#39; said Baker. The sports program is run on a $32,000 budget. <br> <br> RISD doesn&#39;t have an athletic department, so its Student Life Department oversees organized sports including men&#39;s soccer, formally known as the Sacks, the women&#39;s soccer team called the Jugs, the Nads hockey team and synchronized swimming. None is NCAA ranked. <br> <br> ``Competitive sports here are more about participation and fun than about winning,&#39;&#39; said Mandle. But, he says, ``Will we want to build a major stadium or major field house? Probably not.&#39;&#39;