By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
Another student-athlete from an Adams County school has inked a letter of intent to continue their athletic/academic career. In a ceremony held on May 13 in the gymnasium of the Adams County Christian School, surrounded by teammates, family and friends, Eagles’ senior Jed Shivener signed to become a member of the men’s basketball program at Kentucky Christian University.
“I’ve been looking at places for a while and I’ve always wanted to play college basketball,” said Shivener at the ceremony. “I made a visit and had a workout at Kentucky Christian and thought it was a good fit. I ended up getting an offer from them about a month ago and I’m looking forward to getting there. I was impressed with the culture and how the players acted on an off the court, it’s just a great place overall and I fell like it is where I should be.”
Shivener played his sophomore, junior and senior seasons at Adams County Christian and accumulated a career total of 1,296 points.
“I’ll always remember my time and teammates at Adams County Christian,” Shivener added. “Just to get a good Christ-centered education and build the friendships that I have. We’ve had a couple of good seasons here and it has just been a fun place to be.”
Shivener’s most recent coach at ACCS was Dan Wilson, who had great things to say about his 1,000 point scorer who is moving to the next level.
“Jed has just been a really good young man,” said Wilson. “He has developed his relationship with Christ and has really become more mature and rooted in his faith. On the court, his game has just stepped up tremendously, especially between his junior and senior years. His stats show it on paper, but it’s his leadership, the way he takes over a game and takes charge. This is great for our school and our community, seeing that we have talent and that our kids can go and play at the next level. It shows our younger groups that they can take the same path as Jed.”
The next beneficiary of Shivener’s basketball talents will be KCU mens’ coach Charlie Pack, who himself. was a 1,000 point scorer in high school.
“Jed came on just a school visit, looking for a Christian school and our Missions team brought him to me and we talked about our program,” said Coach Pack. “He couldn’t stay that day so he came back for another visit and worked out for us and he did well in that workout so we made him the offer to come and join our program at KCU.”
“We talked with Jed about going through the process. He’s skilled, but also raw in some areas. we have to cleanup his footwork a little but his mid-range, athleticism and strength are a huge plus. He will just need to come in and work from day one and if he comes in and does the right hings he will certainly have the opportunity to move up the ladder.”
“We are an NAIA program, part of the River States Conference,” Pack continued. “This past season was our first in that conference and we finished in the middle of the pack and hope to improve on that next season. We also participate in the National Christian Conference (NCCAA) which kind of gives us an extra tournament we can qualify for.”
Shivener has been a member of Leadership Adams in recent years and that experience has guided him to want to study Business in his four years at Kentucky Christian.
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