Former NBA player Robert Reid feels that Indian juniors have all the toughness required but lose out on proper coaching.
NEW DELHI: For those pursuing basketball on concrete Indian courts wearing makeshift canvas shoes, the NBA is a mirage — sometimes the vision may pop on the horizon but it stays a fantasy way beyond reality.
Expose this lot to a former player of repute from the most competitive league in the world and no wonder they had to “start from the first grade”.
Robert Reid featured in the NBA for 13 seasons and has rubbed shoulders with the likes of Michael Jordan and Kareem Abdul Jabbar on the playing field.
He held a three-day coaching clinic at Ludhiana, coinciding with the end of the Junior National Basketball Championships from June 3-5 and found Indian juniors to be high on enthusiasm and decidedly low on basic skills.
“Most of them have been playing for five to six years. They thought they knew how to dribble, but they really didn’t. Passing, shooting and defence were other problem areas. But these young people are hungry to learn, they just need the right inputs,” said Reid during a press interaction on Tuesday.
Reid’s visit is part of the new direction that the Punjab Directorate of Sports has taken under hockey legend Pargat Singh.
The department intends to bring in world-class trainers in an effort to kick-start the State’s laidback coaching setup.
“The main problem is that coaches have forgotten what it is like to work hard. As such they are hardly well-versed with the latest trends in coaching. Reid was the first one, others will follow,” said Pargat.
Joining Reid’s clinic were 40 coaches from the nooks and crannies of the State. They have been given a broad outline and training format to follow in his wake.
Albeit three days of instruction after decades of neglect are not going to usher in a miracle, Reid’s visit would have at least exposed the teachers to just how much they still have to learn.
Meanwhile, the man himself has been quite overwhelmed by what he has seen.
“These children play in scorching heat and I would put their fitness levels quite high. Their enthusiasm is touching and they have got the necessary skills. I intend to go
back and try and do something about getting more support from former players,” says Reid.
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