A Florida Gulf Coast University power couple is working hard to fill what it feels is a void for young Southwest Florida basketball players.
Former Eagles guards Julian DeBose and Mikala McGhee helped push each other through classes and workouts and life as college students. Now they want to share what they learned with youngsters in the area.
Life Learn Elite, their training and life coaching venture, became licensed on March 31 and its first open camp at The Village School of Naples for those in grades 3-12 tips its first of five 9 a.m.-till-noon sessions on June 11. FGCU athletes will volunteer their time to help with the camp.
The early signs have been good, although DeBose has been working hard to find venues to augment the gym at the Village School of Naples, where he and McGhee on Saturday completed an eight-week camp for that school's girls. DeBose and McGhee each have a group of about a half-dozen individuals they currently work with, usually for about an hour.
"A lot of people want to work with FGCU athletes," said McGhee, a St. Louis native who began her collegiate career at Missouri State before playing with the Eagles as a senior during the 2016-17 season. "They want to know what our secrets are and what it takes to really get to that next level. We've been getting a good response rate.
"Now it's just about keeping them in the program and not just doing a couple of sessions."
A two-year starter for the Eagles after two seasons at Rice, DeBose got his bachelor's degree a year before McGhee. The native of Washington, D.C., poured in 1,081 points at FGCU.
They are juggling part-time jobs and Learn Life Elite and working toward basketball careers while McGhee finishes her master's degree in criminal justice. Last year DeBose had two overseas playing deals fall through late, but believes he'll have a strong shot at making a roster for next season. McGhee's ultimate goal is to coach.
DeBose and McGhee began as buddies, particularly of the workout variety. Finding a responsible person to push you isn't easy -- particularly when most everyone else is off campus -- and the two clicked. They worked out in pools and on basketball things and did grueling CrossFit in front of Alico Arena and on Miami Beach. They still do the latter, usually at CrossFit Estero, where former FGCU forward Marcus Watts is an instructor.
"It was just easy to link up and help each other, especially since we both knew each others' systems and what we needed to work on," said McGhee who thought she might be able to get a second senior season at FGCU, but the NCAA did not approve one.
DeBose's longtime best friend and former high school teammate, Ryan McNeill Moses, is the third partner. He was an all-conference player at Division II Claflin and is a perfect fit. DeBose and Moses stayed in constant contact through their college basketball years and often said, "Learn life" to each other. Hence the name of this business when added to elite.
"Mikala, myself and him, we've all played on the elite level and we've always trained elite, pushed ourselves to be elite and surrounded ourselves with elite coaches and players," DeBose said. "So we want to make sure that sticks. Elite is our standard."
Moses also has aspirations to play professionally. But none of the partners is worried about this falling through should one or two catch their personal break.
"We all have our personal career aspirations," DeBose said. "We're all in charge of every aspect of the business. We're all interchangeable."
This isn't just about fitness and basketball. Not at all.
"It's important for us to bring in a program that is not only developing your athletic skill but also building your character and teaching what it means to be a good person, a good business professional, a good teammate ... the things that don't come up as stats but are equally as important when you're developing yourself in life," McGhee said.
DeBose talked about the difficulty of balancing academics and sports and the total long shot for most college athletes who want to play pro.
"We don't want the kids to walk into this world where sports is everything and you don't have the opportunity to or don't take the chance to develop the other passions you have in life," DeBose said. "We want you to be able to be in athletics as well as outside, figuring out other things that you want."
Besides, a big goal is to really have this FGCU tree branch out. DeBose and McGhee want to add other sports and high school teams and a slew of jobs for former Eagles as Learn Life Elite grows.
McGhee was a four-time all-conference high school soccer player. But her parents didn't know the ins and outs of the sport. She had no clue about the plethora of offseason opportunities that are vital to rising in soccer. So she migrated toward basketball, which was much more easy to sort through.
Still, when she got to Missouri State, McGhee was shocked at the intensity, expectations and demands.
"I remember coming into my freshman year, and I was like, 'Whoa, this is not what I expected,'" McGhee said.
That's why they are doing this -- to make sure others are not caught totally off-guard.