On the surface, it appeared that Brett Blizzard had it all.

His jersey dangles from the rafters in Trask Coliseum, representing an illustrious college career at UNC Wilmington. The professional basketball realm was also kind to the sharpshooter after stints on the Phoenix Suns and Charlotte Bobcats NBA summer league teams and years traveling Europe playing on four different Italian teams.

But, Blizzard wasn’t happy. “There’s a whole other side,” he said. “It’s not just like, ‘Oh man, you’ve got a great life, you’re living in Europe playing basketball and you’re getting paid good, like how could you not do that?’

“That’s what people naturally think, but there’s so many different elements that go into it,” he said. Blizzard noted a variety of reasons, including extended periods away from his family and the language barrier for making him want to return to America.

“It’s a completely different world,” he said. “Everything you’re used to is cut off. You’re like put in this bubble in Europe and everybody in town knows you play basketball and knows you’re American, so they’re always watching everything you do.”

As the Seahawks’ all-time leading scorer, Blizzard has always trained himself to be able to make every shot in every situation. His passion may even be considered an obsession, but his vigilant training is designed to prepare himself for anything. But, in Europe he wasn’t prepared for his competitive nature to diminish.

“I just started not to like it at all, so then I started hating going to practice,” he said, adding that he never dreaded going to practice before Europe. “Just that drive, that hunger to get better every day and to enjoy going to play basketball every day was just gone. I didn’t want to stay there and be unhappy.”

Now, Blizzard, 30, is finding happiness in Wilmington again. With his wife, Megan, the two have created Blizzard Athletics Player Development, a basketball-exclusive training facility. “I’ve been planning this for a few years,” Blizzard said. “I know I have a lot of experience; I have a lot of basketball knowledge.”

The Tallahassee, F.L. native has been involved with assistant coaching and managing three local AAU teams since he came back to the Port City. “It was a no-brainer that I should give these kids what I know. That makes me want to come to the gym every day,” he said. “It’s not because I’m playing (and) it’s not about money. (Giving back) makes me happy; that’s what I’m passionate about.”

The goal of Blizzard Athletics is to give aspiring basketball players all the tools they need to improve, and potentially earn a college scholarship. It’s an outlet for Blizzard to share everything he has learned from his extensive basketball resume. “This is a basketball place where it can have everything you need basketball-wise,” he said. “I just want to teach the game, I want to teach everything I know.”

Blizzard recently received 200 pieces of portable gym floor and, with the help of a few other men, manually installed each piece of red and black Aztec floor, which he estimated weighs about 100 pounds. “We started at 7:30 (a.m.) and ended at 4:20 (p.m.), which was nonstop,” Blizzard said. “I couldn’t make a fist because my forearms were so tight.”

The court has already been in use, mostly by the AAU teams that he assists. If only nine players show up to practice or a drill needs an extra player, Blizzard will step in. Just because he quit playing basketball overseas, doesn’t mean he’s done with the sport for good, he insisted.

“I’m not quitting basketball, playing,” he said. “I mean I could go play right now if I had to. If this doesn’t work out, I’ll go back and play, but I don’t want to sit in Europe and be miserable and wish I was doing something (else) and live the rest of my life wishing I would have done something like this and regret it.”

Blizzard noted five European teams in the past month that he had received phone calls from, all offering him a spot on their team. “I could go play no question and make a good amount of money,” he said. “It’s not about the money; it’s not about me not having enough skill. It’s really about me losing the passion to play basketball over there.”

Without having to ask, Blizzard shrugged off any doubts that the man back in Wilmington is any less talented than when he first left.

“Oh yeah, I still got it,” he said. Now, Blizzard might just have it all.