By Everett Munez
Medill Reports
For the majority of people, the dream of becoming a professional athlete ends early. According to the NCAA, less than 2% of NCAA student-athletes become professional athletes. When also considering the youth and high school athletes who don’t play a sport in college, the ratio of people who go pro to people who play sports is astronomically low.
For some, after their professional athlete dreams end, the passion dies. For others, the passion continues to drive them as they seek different ways to live their dreams in sports.
This was the case for Jonathon Dues, star guard at Division II Hillsdale College from 1999 to 2003. While Dues briefly weighed going pro overseas, he ended up taking a corporate job after college. For more than a decade, Dues’ career had nothing to do with basketball, but the passion lived on.
“(Basketball has) been a huge part of my life, my heart and my brain since I was probably 5 or 6 years old,” Dues said.
In 2016, Dues’ basketball passion came to fruition, as he helped found what would become Swish House, the world’s first basketball fitness program. At the heart of Swish House is the love of the game. All of its instructors have some history playing or coaching basketball at a high level. For the growing number of people taking Swish House classes, it’s all about getting fit and having fun while doing it.
TRANSCRIPT:
[Footage of Dues making a shot in college]
DUES: Goodness. Where do I begin with respect to basketball? It’s just been a huge part of my life, my heart, my brain, since I was probably, you know, 5 or 6 years old.
THIS IS JONATHON DUES, FORMER FIRST-TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE PLAYER AT HILLSDALE COLLEGE.
[Footage of Dues making a shot in college]
DUES: My dad introduced me to the game of basketball. He instilled that love of basketball in me. It was just a genuine passion and enjoyment of the game.
THE PASSION LED TO A CAREER IN BASKETBALL. BUT NOT IN THE NBA.
DUES: I never had any illusions that I was going to make the NBA. I was a good collegiate player, but not that good.
DUES’ BASKETBALL CAREER ALSO DIDN’T BEGIN IMMEDIATELY AFTER COLLEGE. HIS PASSION TURNED INTO A HOBBY AFTER HE TOOK A CORPORATE JOB.
DUES: I put on a lot of weight and was struggling to find, you know, fun ways to exercise on the road instead of a depressing Marriott workout center.
FINALLY, DUES DECIDED TO LIVE HIS PASSION.
DUES: I know a zillion people who love basketball, not to mention the amount of people who actually play.
[Basketball going through the hoop. Swish]
IN 2016, DUES CO-FOUNDED WHAT WOULD BECOME SWISH HOUSE WITH CHILDHOOD FRIEND AND COMPETITOR DAVE HOLTZMULLER.
DUES: “We just grew up playing in each other’s backyard. I’m not kidding, darn near every single day.”
AT THE HEART OF SWISH HOUSE ISN’T COMPETITIVENESS BUT PEOPLE WHO LOVE BASKETBALL.
HIEDLOFF: Being able to be a Swish House coach really gives me the opportunity to stay on the court, do things I’m passionate about, share my love of the game with other people. And for me, I just can’t imagine my life without it.
IN 2017, THE COMPANY’S FIRST CLASS WAS HELD IN CHICAGO, A LOCATION SPECIAL TO DUES.
[Jordan game winner vs. Cleveland in 1989]
DUES: I modeled my whole basketball career after Michael Jordan, no question. So it’s pretty cool to be in Chicago, down the street from the United Center.
A GOAL OF SWISH HOUSE: ACCESSIBILITY.
DUES: We designed it so you could be LeBron James or LeBron James’ out-of-shape uncle, who’s in the 60s and hasn’t played pickup in 20 years. He comes to this class, we’re going to treat him like LeBron. We’re going to pump his tires. He’s going to get a killer workout. He might miss 90% of his shots but have a great time.
[Swish House class footage]
YEE: I used to play when I was a kid and just decided to pick it up again when I turned 50.
[Footage of Yee]
YEE: The community’s awesome, and I get to shoot. A lot of times when I play pickup games, there’s a lot of ball hogs and they don’t let you shoot.
[shots going in]
HEIDLOFF: You come to Swish House and it doesn’t matter your fitness level, your ability level, you’re able to do the class, participate 100%, the same as everybody else.
SOME FORMER PROFESSIONALS EVEN TAKE THE CLASS.
SCOTT: It’s hard to walk away from the game playing it as long as I did. So this keeps me in a happy mental space, keeps me connected to the game, keeps me working out. And I feel good.
SWISH HOUSE HAS EXPANDED FROM CHICAGO INTO NEW YORK AND NORTH CAROLINA. AS IT GROWS, IT CREATES NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR BASKETBALL LOVERS.
DUES: I mean, we are creating both full- and part-time job opportunities for the basketball community. That excites me more than anything is driving the economy, creating fun, interesting jobs for people, men and women like me all over the world.
AS SWISH HOUSE GROWS, ITS COMMUNITY WILL AS WELL. SO WILL THE LOVE OF THE GAME. IN CHICAGO, EVERETT MUNEZ, MEDILL REPORTS.
Everett Munez is a sports media graduate student at Medill. You can follow him on X and LinkedIn.
