TAMPA, FL -- Basketball’s always come easily to JJ Santos. He’s been playing since he was 2.

“My mom just gave me a ball and I made it into the hoop,” he said.

While basketball came easily to JJ, behaving, not so much.  JJ had issues that spilled over into the classroom. How bad?

“I used to like throw chairs and stand on tables,” JJ said.

 It would have been easy to give up on JJ. But Town and Country Elementary assistant principal Otis Kitchen saw something.

“He kind of caught my attention because he was very active," Kitchen said. "So, I said, you know what, let me make sure I keep my eye on him.”

That’s when Kitchen, a member of Tampa Catholic’s 1995 state championship team, reached out to a fellow Crusader alum Gregory Griffith for help. Coach Griff runs the LAB, the Learning Academy of Basketball, where they use hoops as a vehicle to teach life lessons. The duo devised a plan where basketball would be their outlet to get through to JJ.

“As a kid, you know you go through a lot of things that you have no control over and when you step in that gym, it’s like, problems over,” Griffith said.

Basketball provided JJ with a steady does of structure and discipline, but also, a lot of love.

“That’s actually how I coach, I coach through the heart," Griffith said. "So everybody knows that comes around me, they know there’s going to be love involved. So I get on them. I’m on them hard, I love them hard, either way. If you’re going hard, I love you. If you’re going soft, I’m still going to love you, but I’m going to try to pick you up.”

That’s what JJ got, a collective hug from a group who became invested in his life. It takes a village.

“Initially, behaviorally, he was struggling a little bit, and academically as well," Kitchen said. "But I saw how much his personality really came out on the basketball court. I could kind of see it bringing him joy and it was kind of hard, initially, to find some things that brought him joy.”

That kid who got kicked out of his Boys and Girls Club and threw chairs and stood on tables?

“Now, I just wait my turn and sit down,” JJ said.

 JJ got back into his Boys and Girls Club. And they honored him with the Turnaround Award. It’s the first time JJ’s ever won an award. It’s got him thinking about his future and what he’d like to do.

“I want to be a coach," he said, "but first I have to be in the NBA.”