Hested Hoops is new business for buckets

MANKATO — Tucked inside the Victory Drive Contractors Park, in a unit surrounded by plumbers and painters and builders, Brett Hested is living out his hoop dreams.

The 29-year-old from Fairmont, the son, nephew and grandson of basketball coaches, is working to carve out a living in his favorite sport, not as a player or team coach but as a trainer.

“This is my true passion,” Hested said Friday morning in his Hested Hoops facility, a high-ceilinged “commercial condo” at 1064 Victory Drive outfitted with a Sport Court floor and two basketball goals.

Hested opened his gym in February and began work with individuals and small groups.

“It’s been a little over two months, and I’ve done about 80 workouts so far,” said Hested, who also works with athletes in his hometown where he still lives.

Certified with the I’m Possible basketball training program, Hested’s program focuses on offensive skill enhancement that goes well beyond dribbling and shooting.

“It’s about the raw details of the game,” he said, “different body positions, footwork, creating space — different characteristics for what you’ll need in a game. Everything we do is about the details.”

Some of the drills might appear unorthodox, but their intent is to get young players out of their comfort zone.

For example, there are drills that require players to reach down and pick up cones while dribbling and others that have them slide cones across tables as they move with the ball.

“I’m Possible created a checklist system with 600 skills,” Hested said. “I don’t do everything, but I pick different things to give kids more ability, more skills. Kids are going to do what they’re comfortable with, what they know.

"I’m trying to teach them what they don’t know. It’s a supplement to the player’s game. … I wish I’d known half this stuff when I played.”

Hested played high school basketball at Fairmont and began doing some coaching after that, including some time with the Mankato East boys program.

He’s the grandson of Ron Hested, a Minnesota Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Famer who won more than 500 games with the Cardinals. Brett’s dad and uncle ran an AAU program called the Minnesota Stars for several years.

“I come from a basketball family,” Hested said.

Hested works as a paraprofessional at a school in Winnebago and comes to Mankato on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday evenings for training sessions. He hopes that Hested Hoops eventually will become his full-time job.

“I’ve been working on this full bore for about three years,” he said. “The idea started five years ago.. I’m really trying to make it a full-time thing. I was always looking for a spot like this one. My dad kept saying, ‘Be patient. You’ll find it.’”

On Friday, a day off for area schools, Hested had a pretty full day with young basketball players coming in for hour-long sessions starting at 9 a.m.

Besides training sessions at the Mankato facility, Hested has summer camps planned for various high school teams, including Fairmont, Maple River, Sibley East, St. Clair, Albert Lea and Mankato East. He’s teaming up with Carli Wagner, the former University of Minnesota and New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva High School standout for some of those.

“I hope it grows,” Hested said.