By Matt Sweeney, Athletic Communications

His leadership and reputation as a devoted and hard-working former Pirate made him one of the most beloved Seton Hall men’s basketball players of all-time.  Today, Grant Billmeier is thriving as a professional and looking forward to his second season in the pro ranks only 17 months removed from a knee injury that prematurely ended his collegiate career.

Shortly after knee surgery in the winter of 2007, Billmeier launched himself into a fierce rehabbing regiment; focused to re-strengthen his leg enough to embark on what he hoped would be a long professional career.

“I really have to thank our (Seton Hall) trainer Heather Worthy,” Billmeier said.  “As badly as I wanted to get on the court, she wanted to see me out there just as much.  She would even come in during her days off.  We spent a lot of time together and when most people bolted for vacation during spring break, we were right there in the training room every day for two-to-three hours.  She pushed me to my limit.”

Following graduation, Billmeier proved his knee was strong enough for the next level and received an offer to play for the Wurzburg Baskets in Germany.  Over the next eight months, he would add several new chapters to his life’s story and do so half-way around the world. 

“I never imagined myself going to visit Germany, yet alone live there for eight months,” Billmeier said.  “When I got the offer to go play for Wurzburg I was extremely happy that I was given a chance after having had major knee surgery.  The first few months were the hardest in terms of being away from home.  As time went on I tried not to think about being away from home and instead enjoyed the situation that I was in.  Wurzburg is a very big basketball city and has had some very good players come out of their program.  The most famous name that came out of Wurzburg would be Dirk Nowitzki.  Nowitzki grew up in the city I was playing in and played in the club before being drafted by the Dallas Mavericks.”

Despite early reservations, Billmeier did a fine job of acclimating himself to German life and found the country’s people and his teammates to be friendly and very accepting.  On a rare occasion when he needed to see a familiar face, and Wurzburg didn’t have a game, he visited former Seton Hall teammate John Allen who was playing for the nearby Braunschweig Phantoms.

“I was able to pick up some basic Deutsch, “like how are you doing,” “thank you,” “welcome,” and “see you tomorrow,” Billmeier said.  “I liked the German food a lot and all of my teammates were great.  I wasn't sure how they would treat foreigners, but they always made me feel welcome from the time I came to the time I left.  They were very down to Earth and always wanted to make sure I was enjoying myself.  Though we only played together for a few months, I plan on keeping those friendships.”

As Billmeier became more accustomed to European life, his knee continued to strengthen and his overall basketball game improved dramatically.  Averaging a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds per game, he helped guide Wurzburg to a third place finish.  Billmeier’s best performance came against FC Baunach when he scored 27 points and grabbed 21 rebounds.

“I would say the main difference between basketball here and over in Europe is that we put a much bigger emphasis on defense (in the U.S.),” Billmeier said.  “While in high school almost half of our practice would be revolved around defense, and I felt as though defense wasn't emphasized as much overseas.  This always led to high scores over there.”

This summer, Billmeier will be honing his craft at his native high school, St. Patrick’s, and in Belmar, N. J. at the Jersey Shore Basketball League while he prepares for another season of professional basketball.  Although he enjoyed his experiences in Wurzburg, Billmeier is looking forward to advancing to a higher league of competition this year.

In the meantime, he and former Villanova guard Mike Nardi, a teammate of Billmeier’s at St. Patrick’s, have joined to create the Billmeier & Nardi Skills Camp.  The youth basketball clinic in late July will take place at Timberlane Middle School in Billmeier’s home town of Pennington, N.J.  Youths from fourth grade through middle school are eligible to attend.

For more information on the camp, please visit www.hopewellbasketball.net/8.html

“This will be our first year and along with wanting the kids to have fun, we want to show them all the drills that we learned along the road to becoming players in the BIG EAST and professionals in Europe,” Billmeier said.

Although the perfection of basketball skills is important, perhaps the greatest lessons these youths can learn from Billmeier’s camp can be taught by simply emulating their instructor.  Teamwork, determination, motivation and hard work are all characteristics of a man who became a Seton Hall fan favorite and overcame a debilitating injury to be a basketball force on a professional level as well.