Basketball in India
is popular through out the Country and it is being played in schools,
Colleges, Clubs of Industries, Defense institutions etc. which was
due to the efforts put by Basketball Federation of India. However,
the standard of Indian Basketball is not high to be compared with the
Asian Counter parts even leaving aside the Europe , America etc. Basketball
Federation of India had celebrated its Silver Jubilee even. The game
is still being played as out door sport in India and even in small
countries like Singapore , Malaysia etc. the game is being played as
indoor sports. Even though We are not able to win medals in Asian level
Senior Basketball competitions, our teams should achieve better results in Asian
Junior Basketball Competitions. In Asian Junior boys Basketball Championships, we have been
placed between 10th and 13th for last twenty years, despite participation
in almost every championship once in two years and in the girls section
we are able to achieve only the position between 5th and 9th as the
total number of countries participate in the Basketball championship is only 12,
whereas in the case of boys it is about 16 and above every time. The
reasons are many. Some factors are not possible to be controlled by
Basketball Federation of India. However, there are areas which could
be controlled by Federation and raise the standard of Basketball from
Junior level, which will automatically raise the standard of senior
level in the coming years.
It is high time the Basketball game is taken to indoor not only in
few National level competitions at Senior or Junior level but at all
levels of competitions. Then State Associations will also try to take
this game to indoor. We do not need big stadiums with huge seating
capacity. Instead, We need only small halls with the seating capacity
of about 3000 and the game can be shifted to big halls with large seating
capacity only for International basketball competitions. We can not have more
than one stadium in one place and the basketball competition matches are so many
due to clubbing of Men and Women together, Boys and Girls together.
The number of matches can be reduced, if the competition is split into
Male section and Female section for different levels. This system is
being followed in all International basketball competitions including Asian basketball competitions.
Another way of reducing the load of matches is to conduct the competitions
on Zonal and Inter-Zonal basis. Since the Federation and its activities
are being managed by people on Voluntary basis, it may be difficult
for the technical people to devote their time through out the year
on voluntary basis. Hence, We must involve more people and assign different
people for different level competitions, as is being done by FIBA,
ABC etc.
The Competition Calendar for Juniors may be fixed either before schools
competitions and College competitions or after those competitions,
which the author has been suggesting for many years. The May June period
is not suitable for Juniors due to many reasons. The Academic session
ends in India in March April and in some States the examinations are
conducted in the month of May also. Hence, the players in age group
competitions lay off their sports training as back as January February
and after long transition, they will not be able to perform better.
No scientific development of Junior basketball players with periadized training
is possible. The competition season can be from August to December,
which may include schools and colleges competitions also, so that the
period May- June can be used for Off- Season ( Preparatory Period )
training for Juniors as they need continuous training through out the
year with systematic planning.
Juniors are to be provided with more competitions both domestic and
external. Now there is only Junior National basketball Championship and the boys
and girls are selected for camps before international competitions
and We can not expect them to achieve better results. We have to organize
more domestic competitions, fixing competition season, we can organize
Junior league for States on Zonal basis instead of involving club teams.
We can invite foreign teams and play test matches at various cities
by getting sponsors, which will also help to get media coverage and
promote the game. We can conduct international tournaments with three
or four countries so that the expenditure is controlled and make the
tournament viable, which will pave the way for gaining competitive
experiences. We may also participate in Asian Junior Basketball Competitions regularly
and sent our team to nearby foreign countries or to Europe / America
for training cum competitions by finding sponsors before the Championship
or en route championship participation.
Leading countries in Asia (China, Korea, Japan etc.) even are inducting
good number of Junior players in Senior teams. The author analyzed
the trend in inducting new players in Asian Games, ABC Championships
and found that after every four years, more than 80 % of players in
the Senior teams are new players and the induction of new players is
being done gradually after every two years that is for every ABC Championship.
This will serve as incentive to the young and talented players to work
hard instead of dropping out. It is not out of place to mention that
China, the Asian Champions have inducted 17 year old player in their
senior team and then into Olympic team, who has graduated to NBA level
today. We have to identify young and tall players and train with specific
aims as tall men in senior groups are late starters and are not fully
developed with skills, which is one of the reasons for the low standard
of Indian Basketball. The leading teams are having tall players with
the height of more than 2 meters four to five players in their teams
and these players are mobile and are having jumping ability, whereas
our tall players lack mobility, jumping ability or tactical ability.
Hence, the tall players are to be trained with scientific planning
systematically from young age. We must include at least 50 % of players
in the senior teams from Junior teams.
The players are to be trained under competition conditions from the
very beginning, which is applicable not only for the technical, tactical
and physical aspects of the game but also for the playing conditions,
such as providing of infrastructure facilities like playing surface,
basketball, basket ring, electronic game clock, 24 seconds device and
score board. Our players are not provided with these facilities even
in national coaching camps and we expect our players to watch the score
board, game clock or 24 seconds device during international competitions
and play according to the situation, which is impossible as they have
not developed the habit. Using of coaching aids, such as statistics
during domestic competitions, National Championships and during coaching
camps will enable the players to identify their mistakes and improve
upon them. Recording of Video Films of practice sessions in coaching
camps and also competition matches can help the coaches to rectify
the mistakes of the players in a convincing manner.
These are few steps which are suggested to Basketball Federation of
India for consideration to raise the standard of Basketball at Junior
level in particular and standard of Indian Basketball in general. Let
us hope, the present set of Office bearers with dynamic President and
Secretary will leave no stone unturned and help India to make a mark
at Asian Level at least, if not at World level.
|
