After officiating the Asian Games final, referee Ramesh Durairaju sets his sights on the Olympics

Tamil Nadu based referee Ramesh Kr. Durairaju vividly recalls a moment last week which he vows he will remember forever.

It was at the Guangzhou (China) Asian Games, where Durairaju was part of a small contingent of Indian referees officiating the basketball tournament. On the night of November 24th, Durairaju had been picked to officiate a Men’s Quarter-Final game between Iran and Jordan. He remembers returning to his hotel room late, around 1:20 in the morning, only to find two of his Indian colleagues – including his referring mentor Mr. Naresh Aneja – waiting for him.

They had a little bit of news to discuss with him: the 34-year-old Durairaju was to discover through his friends that he had been picked to be one of the three officials to referee the Final of the Women’s tournament the following day.

“I could hardly believe this news!” he exclaims, “We stayed up till 3 in the morning, as my friends congratulated me and Mr. Aneja discussed the game. It was a night I will truly never forget!”

Durairaju, a native of Thanjavur (Tamil Nadu) became only the second Indian since his fellow statesmen SK Subramanyam to officiate a final of an Asian Games basketball event. Subramanyam did it 28 years ago during the Delhi games in 1982. For Durairaju, it was a dream come true, but he insisted that he isn’t done dreaming yet.

Durairaju started officiating in 2002, and cleared the examination to become a FIBA referee in 2006. His first international didn't come till 2008, when he officiated at the Malaysia International Basketball Championship. Durairaju admits that he had a late start as a official, but he put in many hours of hard work to improve himself and get to the level he is at today. Through the course of his, he feels indebted to the advice and support of Aneja, a man Durairaju has described as his teacher.

The final match, a close fought affair between hosts China and South Korea, turned out to be a lively experience for the young referee. “Just stepping out on court was really nice – I hadn’t ever expected anything like this,” said Durairaju, “The infrastructure and the facilities were amazing, and the final was being watched by so many people in the arena and so many more around the world!”

He continues: “I had to be completely mentally prepared for this game on matchday. It was a great and easy game to officiate, as both teams were focusing on just playing the game of basketball and not committing too many fouls.” The game came down to the wire, before China pulled off a 70-64 victory in the end.

Naresh Aneja served as the Commissioner of the Gold Medal game, and Durairaju was accompanied by referees Elena Chernova (Russia) and Teerapong Yodsint (Thailand) on the floor.

Durairaju’s accomplishment has been another feather in the cap for Indian referees in 2010. In July this year, West Bengal’s Atanu Banerjee became the first Indian referee to officiate the final of a World Championship, as he was one of the referees at the final game of the FIBA U17 World Championship for Women in France.

Durairaju, too, has hopes to keep improving and keep rising. The Asian Games final was a great feat, but there will be no full stop to his story here. “I am back to work now, trying to improve myself and become a better referee every day,” he says, “My sights are set on the World Championships and the Olympics. The honour at the Asian Games has encouraged me to work harder to try and make it to that level.”

With ambition like that, there will be few doubting that Durairaju can one day stand amongst the world’s very best.

Interview with Bill Harris and Tamika Raymond: head coaches of India’s basketball teams at the Asian Games

American basketball coaches Bill Harris and Tamika Raymond have accomplished several historical feats over the last few months alone. The two became the first American head coaches of the Indian Senior Men’s and Women’s national basketball teams respectively. They led the Indian team into their first appearance in the 2010 Asian Games basketball tournament in 28 years. Under Harris, the Men’s team also won their first ever basketball game at the Asian Games, beating Afghanistan 83-76 in their pre-qualifying match-up.

The contract for both the coaches expires at the end of the month, and both Harris and Raymond will be returning to the USA after bidding farewell to the teams. The two have been working with the teams since the end of September/beginning of October at the Senior camp in Chennai. The Men’s team played a friendly game against Hong Kong before heading off to Guangzhou, China, for the Asian Games. After beating Afghanistan, the Men lost all their five group games to Qatar, Chinese Taipei, Iran, Philippines, and Japan.

Men’s coach Harris has over 30 years of experience as a head coach in the game of basketball across several institutions in the US. His most-recent previous appointment was with Wheaton College (1991-2009), where he had tremendous success posting the highest career winning percentage as a head coach in the institution’s history.

Despite India’s poor final showing, Harris showed his optimism and excitement for the experienced gained by the players. “This tournament was an opportunity for the players to compete against the best countries in Asia. While training, the Indian players got a chance to push themselves further than ever before and get a glimpse of their full potential if they keep working harder at it.”

“I am very proud of our win against Afghanistan,” he added, “It will also be a memorable moment for the players and for me, especially considering that we were the lowest seed in the competition and were not expected to beat them after the two losses to Afghanistan earlier this year [at the South Asian Games]. The win gave us the opportunity to qualify for the group stage and compete against Asia’s best.”

Both the Indian teams were amongst the youngest squads in the tournament, and the Men’s team was led by captain Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, who just turned 20. They also lost valuable players such as Trideep Rai to injury for three games, and leading scorer Jagdeep Singh also missed the last match against Japan. Despite this, Harris was impressed by the character that the Young Cagers showed in China.

“We played a good game against Iran, who are one of the strongest teams in the world,” Harris said, “After a bad first half, we played Iran even in the second period and lost only by 15 points. Against Philippines, we had a good first half, and were down only by one point then before letting them take a big lead in the second. Against Japan too, without two important players, we were able to stick close for three quarters. In The Japan game we were able to call upon Dishant Shah, who is at junior level, to start the game and play big minutes, which was very impressive.”

Harris was known to command a lot of respect amongst the players and brought a disciplined approach to the team during training in Chennai. “I have been tough and demanding on them, but they know that I did this because I cared for their success. During the training, they began to see gradually that they can develop into great players.”

Now, at the end of his tenure, Harris is leaving behind personalised training regimes for each of the players so that can continue to put in work into their ability. His only concern is that now without him, the players must become self-motivated to follow the regimes.

Discussing the future of the Men’s team, Harris stressed that it is important for the players to continue to strive for betterment. “The BFI and the NBA have to figure out a way to make sure that the national players can stay together and play together. I feel that India needs to get 20 of its best players for the national team and then keep them together all year round to train together, improve their team chemistry, and grow as a team.”

Harris said that it was hard to leave behind the team, who had become like a family to him. He will now be returning to US, where he is still undecided about his future but is looking forward to spending some time with this family.

Under Tamika Raymond, the Women’s team played a few practice games against professional teams from China in Chennai before heading to Guangzhou. There, they lost all three of their group games to China, South Korea, and Thailand. Raymond is a former WNBA player and NCAA Division I Assistant Coach.

“Getting beat that badly definitely wasn’t fun, but the kids learning so much is something that I wouldn’t trade for the world,” Raymond said, “For India basketball, sending a team to this tournament has been a great foundation to build upon.”

Raymond’s team was tested by the best in Guangzhou. They played first two games against China and South Korea, who were the two finalists of the tournament. China is ranked 4th in the entire world and South Korea 8th. After two big losses, India played well against Thailand in the third game before losing out by eight points in the fourth quarter.

One of the stand-out players for Raymond was Anitha Pauldurai, who played the most minutes for the team and showed much needed leadership and experience. Raymond added that Anitha showed a “coach’s mentality”, which was rare.

Another player for whom Raymond reserved special praise was Indian basketball legend Geethu Anna Jose. “Geethu is a very talented player, and has a great future,” Raymond said, “Unfortunately I don’t think that she has been challenged enough in India. To improve, she needs to play against other great players.”

Raymond added that the team’s point guard Akanksha Singh was the squad’s most hard-working player, showing great confidence and persistence against all the competition. She also mentioned youngsters such as Pratima Singh, Raja Priyadarshini, Sneha Rajguru, and Rajpreet Sandhu, who stepped their game up in China to offer the coach a pleasant surprise.

Raymond feels that the next stage for India to improve the quality of its basketball players is to focus on their conditioning. “To be as good as the teams we face, we first have to look like them,” she said, “We have the length, but we need the right kind of weight room training, nutrition, built, and strength to try and look like other strong teams such as China or Korea.”

“It was surprising at times that some of the basic training techniques that we worked with that players learn at a much younger age in America were new to these girls, but they enjoyed all the weight room training work that we did, where we worked particularly on their agility and fitness.”

Another factor that Raymond believes that India needs work on is improving their basketball IQ and their will to win. “It is not just important to play the game but also to think it,” she said, “They shouldn’t just play basketball; they should want to play smart and want to win. They should want to be great.” The players had to learn many things to improve their basketball IQ, such as plays and important defensive concepts.

Finally, Raymond feels that there is a need for uniformity in the coaching process in India, and a need for the coaches to be trained better, so that in turn they can pass on valuable information to the young players. This process, she feels, must start at the Junior level so that the players are comfortable with the system by the time they reach the Senior National team.

“The next stage for India should be to reach out again and bring in more quality coaches for their teams,” Raymond suggested, “The team’s future will depend on how much time they can spend together and on their future coach. It is sad that when the players return they get separated and go back to represent their separate regions and teams, and the lower level of play can hurt their development. In other countries, the national team stays and trains together to improve.”

“The NBA and BFI have a wonderful arranged marriage, and basketball in India can only get better!”

Raymond can be seen on ESPN in America, where she will be a sideline reporter for Women’s basketball. She added that there is a chance that she will also work at a few WNBA games when the season begins.

The secretary-general of the BFI Harish Sharma was very satisfied with Harris’ and Raymond’s work in India. “The American coaches came from a background of great work culture in basketball,” Sharma said, “Both of them have done well to improve the standard of basketball in India. It was good to see that, under them, our national players brought a level of much-needed discipline to their game. They improve their shot selection, and their defense improved tremendously under both coaches.”

“We want to hire more foreign coaches to replace them and lead the Indian senior teams for the next two or three years.” Sharma added.

Troy Justice, the NBA’s Director of Basketball Operations in India, who helped the BFI in bringing Harris and Raymond to India, confirms that the NBA will once again to an extensive global search for future national coaches for the Indian squads. “We will be looking not just for good coaches, but for coaches who will be right for India and will be committed whole-heartedly to India,” Justice said.

CAPE TOWN!

Sorry for the delay. Things have been quite hectic pretty much from the moment we left and are going to continue in that vein for awhile... but, we'll get to that...

Sooooooo Cape Town.  Probably best described as a bender.  Didn't really have the opportunity to take a lot of pictures, but here's a few highlights:

Day 1: Soccer Game!  US won 1-0!!!!  Woot woot!  Ok so the soccer was kind of crappy but the stadium was un-freaking-believable!  Really, truly gorgeous!  And the obnoxious American fans were represented well.  And of course... Team Paramount REUNITED!!!!!!  I even got to meet Tony's little boy.  So freaking adorable!

Day 2: Hanging out at the intern house, a total college house on the inside (7 people with three bathrooms), located in a beautiful neighborhood with adorable, little streets that we walked around, could of sworn I was in Europe.  Oh yeah, and they have a ridiculous view of Table Mountain.  Unbelievable.  Absolutely breathtaking.  Hey, at least I got to see it.  Will have to return for the climb.  Confirmed a guy passed out half in the street was alive.  Go team.  Got some awesome quiche and cappuccino (Cape Town has a total cafe culture, which was to die for- yes, I realize I sound like a snoot, deal with it, slash I was eating quiche and cappuccino with a bunch of American jock males so ha).  Went and hung out in a beautiful local park, super euro again.  Exposed to the colored culture of Cape Town, very distinct, with their own dialect of Afrikaans, missing front teeth (oh, yes, on purpose), and very aggressive with their interactions with whites.  Creates a very different dynamic amongst the races than in other urban areas of South Africa.  GATSBIES!  Ridiculous, ginormous sandwiches found in the township, with everything, and I mean everything, on it, including french fries and enough mayonnaise to swim in.  For dinner: an Oreo milkshake- a little taste of home.  TRIVIA NIGHT!  I think we came in second to last.  We started out strong and then hit some roadblocks when it came to sections of naming South African political officials.  False promises of questions targeted towards the international crowd!  Continued the night out which ended up with dancing at a hip hop club called Jo'burg, oh and don't forget the stop for late night Boerwurst from a street vendor.  Couldn't of been happier.

Day 3: More chilling, more good food.  Got to check out the Grassroot Soccer office, very fancy pants, definitely different vibe, a lot of white people, a lot of Americans.  Seems like they have a good thing going though, but definitely different experience for volunteers.  Tim took me on what I think was the only sight seeing I did the whole time on our walk back from the office.  Truly a beautiful city, green, spectacular architecture, with lots of history, reminded me a lot of Europe.  Good old (not to mention amazing!) hamburgers for dinner.  And then went to a dance club with EIGHTIES MUSIC!!!!  The DJ was on fire!!  One amazing song after another!!  And, not to mention, the dance floor was surrounded with mirrors, which if you know me, is like a dream come true.  So basically we were this group of toolish Americans screaming out every single word to every single song and dancing with ourselves in the mirrors.  And it was amazing!  Highlight had to be "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey.

Day 4: We had some recovering to do, which included brunch where I consumed some really awesome ostrich'wurst.  It was kind of a lazy day, gray weather, so we opted to watch some soccer at an Irish pub.  And then another crazy night out.  We started at a college bar where I felt really, really old and really, really claustrophobic, which led to me throwing 'bows to protect my personal space and almost getting into a few fights.  Oops!  Whatever, if you expect me to move when you put all your weight on me, you got another thing coming, I'm stronger than I look, and I push back.  From there, we moved on to more dancing and ridiculousness.  We returned home after the boys stuffed their faces with street/gas station food.  They then proceeded to strip to their skivvies and have a late night dance party on my "bed" aka couch, which is when I opted to pass out in an empty bed for a few hours of sleep before our flight home

What I walked away with:  It's different, very, very different.  Not so much Africa.  Another one of their friends who is working in Malawi was visiting and we kept making jokes about "Where are all the black people?" and how it's "Africa lite".  I actually felt very out of place with all the white people.  But, it was fun, so much fun.  And absolutely beautiful.  It was cool how every bar and restaurant was some cool, fun, hip, funky place, like what would be considered a special find in any urban area in the US, but here it was every single place you walked into.  It was awesome.  You could of told me we were in New York, DC, LA, San Fran, and I would of easily believed you.  Definitely a trip.  Due to my lack of tourist activities this time around, I now have a good excuse to return.  And I made some awesome friends there who know how to have a good time, hence the dancing basically every night.  So all in all, a good trip and a nice break from the Mtuba, but was definitely happy to be back.  Couldn't believe how much I missed rural, farm life!  Me!  An urban, city girl!  Who'd a thunk?

Since then things have not slowed down.  With Thanksgiving on Thursday, we started housing guests on Wednesday, with a few still with us.  We had a HUGE, traditional Thanksgiving meal, with fourteen Americans, three turkeys, three types of stuffing, and god knows how many side dishes.  Freaking amazing.  Then our weekend to recover turned into an accidental rager last night.  They literally brought the township to our farm, freaking ridiculous.  I finally had to kick them out at 5 am.  And tomorrow I leave for another five days to begin our two weeks of OneSight Clinics.  Damn G!  The light at the end of the tunnel is my luxurious four week vacay that follows!  Holler!  Gotta love African summer vacation! :)  Happy holidays!

At the Garden: My photos and experiences from Madison Square Garden

Earlier this month, I was lucky enough to attend my first two NBA games at the Madison Square Garden (New York) and Verizon Center (Washington), watching the Knicks host the Warriors and the Wizards host the Raptors.

It was obviously a mind-BLASTING experience... The MSG, home of the Knicks in particular has been my dream. Watching my favourite Knicks squad was a pleasure to say the least - few things in the world can match the excitement of a Knick game, regardless of how well (or unwell) the home squad is performing. I wrong about this experience in my NBA-India article a few weeks ago. It was a close game which the Warriors won by 5 points. After the game, I was also invited to go to the locker rooms and speak to some of the Knick players. I interacted with Knick starters Landry Fields, Danilo Gallinari, and Raymond Felton.

Anyways, enough writing - A picture says a thousand words, so here are some that I clicked from the Knicks game. I will upload my write-up and photos from the Wizards' game another day

Madison Square Garden, pregame



David Lee returns to play the Knicks for the first time!



Game about to tip-off!



Amar'e and David Lee at jump-off



Gallinari at the perimeter...



Amar'e Stoudemire shooting a free-throw



Toney Douglas drives in for a tough lay-up

China wins double gold at Asian Games; India goes winless

Hosts China stamped their dominance over basketball in Asia after winning double gold in both the Women's and Men's tournament at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou. China defeated the Republic of Korea in both divisions to clinch the title.

Nan Chen led a balanced attack for the Chinese Women on Thursday, November 25th with 17 points and 12 rebounds to overcome the Korean challenge, 70-64. All of China's starters scored in double digits as the hosts prevailed in the close game. Yeonha Beon scored a game-high 23 points in Korea's losing effort.

Women

China 70 (Nan Chen 17 pts 12 rebs, Xin Guan 14 pts, Fan Zhang 7 rebs) bt. Republic of Korea 64 (Yeonha Beon 23 pts, Jung Eun Park 14 pts, Mi Sun Lee 5 stls). Halftime Score:38-29

Japan came third in the women's competition after beating Chinese Taipei 73-61 in the bronze medal game.

In the Men's final, China sustained a close lead for the whole game and fought off Korea's comeback to win 77-71. Former NBA player Zhizhi Wang scored 20 points to lead a balanced effort for China. Donggeun Yang for Korea added 17 points for the losing team.

Men

China 77 (Zhizhi Wang 20 pts, Jinhui Ding 14 pts 8 rebs, Yue Sun 14 pts) bt. Republic of Korea 64 (Dongguen Yang 17 pts, Joo Sung Kim 15 pts, Sungmin Cho 15 pts). Halftime Score:43-37

Iran won the Men's bronze medal after beating Japan 74-66

The Indian teams did not have a successful competition after qualifying for Asian Games basketball after 28 years, as the Men and Women's teams suffered defeats in all their group stage match-ups.

The Indian Men's team had early success as the won their pre-qualification match-up against Afghanistan to enter the tournament's group stage. Trailing by eight points at half-time, a balanced effort from India's starters led to a succesful comeback victory 83-76. Jagdeep Singh led a balanced effort from the Indians with 22 points. Trideep Rai (18), Hareesh Koroth (17), and Yadwinder Singh (15) also chipped in with important contributions.

But India's five group games saw them fall to 0-5 against their opponents. Despite Hareesh Koroth's 24 points, India lost big to Qater, 97-48. Chinese Taipei played a high-scoring game against India which they won 93-66, as Jagdeep Singh again led India with 22 points. Jagdeep continued his strong play in the tough game against Iran next, scoring 24 points in a losing effort, where Iran won 78-63. Yadvinder Singh also added 17.

India had a promising start in their last two games, against the Philippines and Japan, but succumbed to late game fatigue at lost both. Philippines beat India 78-57 and Japan won 85-58.

In the Women's tournament, India were baptised by fired in their first game against a strong Chinese squad, who won big, 107-39. The Women continued to suffer in a tough draw, as their next game was against eventual semi-finalists Republic of Korea, who won 98-44. The Girls showed a much improved performance in their final game, as Geethu Anna Jose powered to 20 points and 12 rebounds against Thailand, still to lose a close game 62-54 in the tough fourth quarter.

Although the box scores might have shown a dismal performance for the Indian team, the truth was that both the Men and the Women showed glimpses of competitiveness in all their games, just to succumb to problems regarding fatigue. The Indian teams were just not fit enough to hang with Asia's best for 40 minutes a game, which led to several epic second half collapses.

But first qualification in 28 years is still a positive step up. Hopefully the influence left behind by American coaches Bill Harris and Tamika Raymond paves the way for a brighter future for the game in India.

The Spurs are still here

There are a surprisingly low amount of San Antonio Spurs related posts, not only on this blog, but across on most blogs and websites around the global INTERNAATS (outside of San Antonio, of course). Somehow, the last decade's most successful basketball team (along with the Lakers) went by either hated, or at worst, unnoticed by most in the basketball world.

But the San Antonio Spurs, NBA Champions in 1999, 2003, 2005, and 2007, and contenders for damn near every other year, have once again sprung up from under the radar and are currently owners of the NBA's best 13-1 record, including owners of an incredible 12 game winning streak. Ask the casual NBA fan of the intriguing storylines of this NBA season, and he/she will mention the failing Big 3 at Miami, the chase for a sixth championship for Kobe in LA, the Celtics and their acquisition of Shaq, or Kevin Durant and the exciting young Thunder squad. And still, none of these teams have had a better start than the Spurs have.

Maybe it's because of their leader Tim Duncan, who has once again been the model of a quiet professional, getting it done year after year (after year, after year) without fanfare, hype, big shoe deals, and relatively lower global attention. Maybe its because of their coach Gregg Popovich, who has stuck with the same winning system, rated boring by half the world (and cheaters by the other half). Even the antics of Tony Parker and his Desperate Housewife or Manu Ginobili's incredible clutch talent/ incredible flopping talent have brought this team into mainstream attention.

Duncan recently became the Spurs' all time leading scorer, overtaking their other legend and twin tower, David Robinson. Duncan, known as T-Robot for his efficiency and lack of emotion (expect that he is programmed to frown at questionable referee calls), continues to cement his legacy as one of the greatest power forwards of all time. And yet, year after year, he continues to be overlooked.

But the Spurs are still here, and still winning. After getting swept by the Suns in last year's Conference Semi-Finals, Spurs have responded well with more of the same formula that has made them so successful over the past 12 years. Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili are once again getting it done, and are being supported ably by younger talent such as Richard Jefferson, George Hill, DeJuan Blair, Tiago Splitter, and the rest.

When the season began, I had predicted that there will be few teams who could really challenge the Lakers for the Western Conference Championship. The Spurs' fast start has made me doubt that prediction: I still feel that no one is stopping Kobe and LA from reaching the Finals again, but I don't think that the ride through the Western conference will be as smooth as I had earlier expected.

I spent much of the last decade cursing and fearing the Spurs - no matter what the scene around the league, you could bet that they would always be a threat to your favourite team. And here they go again. The best managed franchise in the league just won't go away...

Indian software mogul becomes owner of the Golden State Warriors

So what if Indian basketball players are still several years away from being good enough to play in the NBA? India leads the world in other fields - particularly software, and business acumen. Mumbai's Vivek Ranadivé, who is the chairman, CEO, and founder of computer software company TIBCO, took up ownership of the Golden State Warriors last week as the vice-chairman of GSW Sports LLC Executive Board. Ranadivé is the first Indian owner of an NBA team, and could open the flood gates for many more Indian entrepreneurs looking to invest in basketball.

The CEO and governor of the ownership group is Joe Lacob.

Ranadivé, a 53-year-old businessman, grew up in Juhu, Mumbai, and has been a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and postgraduate from the famed Harvard Business School. He founded TIBCO in 1997, which is "an infrastructure software company, [that] uses technology to help companies bridge the gap between the time something happens and the understanding of that event."

Ranadivé has also authored two books: The Power of Now (1999) and The Power of Predict (2006).

Here are more interesting details from Desi Hits:

Ranadive does not play basketball, however he is a big fan of the Golden State Warriors and has been a ticket holder for many years. He also coached his daughter Anjali's basketball team and helped the girls win a championship.
Seeing that the team consisted of 12 year old girls who weren't very tall and didn't have a lot of experience playing basketball he knew he had to come up with a strategy to help them succeed. He made the decision to have the girls do a full-court press for the whole game, and it worked out.
He hopes to use this out-of-the-box thinking with the Golden State Warriors as well.

He added "The areas that I hope to bring to the table in making the Warriors a 21st century team: I will help with everything from fan base managing customer loyalty programs, structure, community outreach and game play. I would also like to help make it a global brand, especially helping to popularize it in the Indian community."

This is exciting news, both from an Indian point of view and for Golden State Warrior fans. The Warriors have been an up-and-coming squad this season, boasting the talents of Monta Ellis, Stephen Curry, and David Lee who have given them one of their best starts in several years. They have lost a few games since then and currently hold a 7-7 record.

My next question is this: how soon before Vijay Mallya buys the Knicks?

Video: Indian basketball scholarship recipients at IMG Academy

In mid-September 2010, 8 young basketball players between the ages of 13-14 were recruited by the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida on a scholarship programme to begin a year of growth and training among world class coaches, facilities, programs and sports camps. The basketball players were amongst a group of 29 kids in various sports, and were the first group of students to benefit from the IMG-Reliance Scholarship Program. The program is part of a greater initiative of IMG Reliance Pvt. Ltd., a joint venture between IMG Worldwide and Reliance Industries.

IMG Basketball Academy Director Andy Borman and coach Dan Barto traveled to India to evaluate the basketball talent and pick the eight youngsters. The boys have joined the IMG Academy developmental team and are coached by Nate Vander Sluis, former Division I four-year letterman for Miami of Ohio University. The girls are coached by Shell Dailey, former University of Texas player and WNBA coach.

The Indian youngsters include 14-year-old Punjabi seven footer Satnam Singh Bhamara, who has turned heads all over the country with his potential and great play. Here is a video featuring him and the rest of the youngsters at practice at the academy, and it features interviews with the coaches.

The players are - Boys: Satnam Singh Bhamara, Sanjeev Kumar, Dinesh Mishra, Ashiv Jain. Girls: Pooja Ambistha, A. Kavita, Soumya Babbar, Barkha Sonkar.

Video: Sim and Tanveer Bhullar making High School kids look like High School kids

As you get older, you know that feeling you get sometimes that kids are growing up too quick these days? That some of these kids can do things at a young age that we couldn't have dreamed of in our time (although, in my case, "our time" was only about seven years ago). Especially when you see some of the young high school basketball players who are far more athletic, quick, and explosive, and play a game that makes them look much older than their age?

Well, here is a quick fix to all of that. I just watched two videos from City League Hoops, chronicaling the American National Prep Tip Off in Pittsburgh this past weekend. The videos featured Indian-origin Canadian brothers, who I have since decided to collectively call the Giant Bhullars. The two brothers are massive: Sim (17) is 7 foot 4 inches tall, and Tanveer (15) is 7 feet 2. I credit the hatta-katta physique to some home-made Punjabi white butter in their ancestral veins. Both the brothers currently attend the Kiski School in Pennsylvania, and have both been getting a lot of attention from Division 1 colleges in the US.

Anyways - back to the videos. The two brothers, especially Sim, is making the competition look like little children out there. I almost feel bad for them. Damn Sim... Don't hurt the kids. He's making all the other kids who grew up too soon look like kids again. Speaking of kids who grew up too soon, let me repeat that Sim is 7 foot 4. And 17.

Here are some highlights of Sim Bhullar.



Tanveer got limited minutes at this camp, but he too showed his good offensive touch around the basket. Here are his highlights:



Exciting stuff, indeed. They could be the first Indian-origin players in the NBA. Of course, we have our own giant Punjabi out here in India, born and bred at the Ballo Ke village in Bhamara, grown to a 7 feet at age 14, and currently learning to hone his talents on scholarship at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. I'm speaking, of course, of Satnam Singh Bhamara, who, too, has started to garner some hype in the hoop circles in America.

Watch out world - Giant Punjabis are coming to dunk on your kids.

India's first basketball movie to star Prashanti and Akanksha Singh

All those times I saw Spike Lee's classic 'He Got Game', watching Ray Allen aka Jesus Shuttlesworth drive by Denzel Washington, the one thing that DIDN'T go through my head was: "Wow, I wish I could see this in India." Not because I didn't want to see it; simply because, I couldn't even foresee seeing something like it, if you get the gist of what I'm rambling.

Well anyways, what I didn't expect to see might actually come to life - for perhaps the first time ever, an entire movie is going to be shot at a basketball court. '4 PM on the court' is set to become India's first ever basketball movie. It will be directed by Shine Krishna with a script written by Ajit Kuriakose Varghese, who is a basketball player himself.

But what is perhaps most interesting is that two of India's finest women's team stars, sisters Prashanti and Akanksha Singh of Varanasi, are set to have major roles in the movie as themselves. Prashanti, the captain of the Women's squad, and her sister Akanksha are currently with the team in Guangzhou, China, facing mighty difficult challenges at the Asian Games basketball tournament. But according to DNA, the two have confirmed their role in this upcoming movie, shooting for which will begin in Kerala in February.

Here is more information, straight from Derek Abraham of DNA, Mumbai:

“Yes, it’s true that we have been approached [for the movie]. We have been asked to play ourselves. I think this will be a completely new experience. I haven’t read the script, but I have been told that it’s a movie based purely on basketball. For now, though, we are focusing on the Asian Games,” Prashanti told DNA, shortly before the Indian contingent flew to Guangzhou.

Interestingly, Ajit Kuriakose Varghese, the movie’s script writer, is a basketballer himself. The movie (4 pm On The Court), he says, will be a “coming-of-age film” and “the first of its kind”.
Well, every movie is supposed to be unique, but when the 46-year-old tells you that the entire flick will be shot on a basketball court, you can’t but raise your eyebrows. “There are over 350 Hollywood movies based on basketball, but not one has been shot completely on one court,” Varghese says, matter of factly.
He then goes on to describe the script. “A bunch of collegemates are shown playing the game. After sweating it out for over two hours, they indulge in some friendly banter and leg-pulling stuff. This becomes a ritual. About a month later, two girls (Prashanti and Akanksha) join the college for a sports medicine programme. They go up to these boys and ask if they could play along. Moments later, their true identity is revealed and the boys are obviously left stunned,” Varghese explains.
The idea, Varghese says, is to portray the face of Indian women’s basketball. I want to show that this isn’t a game played by female thugs. I also want to show that playing basketball will do no harm to a woman’s body or figure. There are a lot of stereotypes about the game and women playing it. All that must change. We need to get more people on the court,” Varghese adds.
The movie will have five songs — yes, all on the court — and will be complete with a passionate kiss (no, neither sister will do that!). There could be one or two surprises too. An American coach could also play a cameo.

"It’s basically a Hindi movie with a bit of English. The budget is around Rs4 crore I am confident this will be a path-breaking movie,” says director Shine Krishna.

Wow! This concept has so many things going right for it... Potential cameo of American coach (I know Phil Jackson looks to India for his Zen-like meditative techniques)... Social message (girls should be allowed to play sports, too!)... Songs (no tree to dance around; basketball pole will have to do)... And of course, LOTS of basketball.

Vote for your NBA All-Stars!

So here we are again, just a few weeks into the brand new NBA season, and it is already time for the greatest fan participation event of the year to begin. The one event that really gives NBA fans access into watching who they want to see play. The one event that has seen Tracy McGrady's value soar higher than it has in half a decade. Yes, boys and girls, I'm talking about the NBA All Star Game.

The 2011 version of the game is still months and months away. The All-Star Game this season will be played at the Staples Center in Los Angles home of the Lakers (and another team, which also has a similar stationary-sounding name to Staples. Oh yeah, Clippers). Well anyways, just like everywhere, the NBA is allowing fans to vote in this year's ballot. If you haven't ever done this before, its about time you join the club. From now until January 23, you can vote every day for your eastern and western conference starters: two guards, two forwards, and two centers each.

This is where you go to vote.

I've already chosen my starters - I'm known to be notoriously biased in my all-star voting. So I've always picked players depending on who I like, not depending on how they are performing. So this year, the following will be my all-star picks:

Western Conference:

Forward: Ron Artest (LA Lakers)
Forward: Pau Gasol (LA Lakers)
Guard: Baron Davis (LA Clippers)
Guard: Deron Williams (Jazz)
Center: Yao Ming (Rockets)

Eastern Conference:

Forward: Kevin Garnett (Celtics)
Forward: Chris Bosh (Heat)
Guard: Dwyane Wade (Heat)
Guard: Gilbert Arenas (Wizards)
Center: Al Horford (Hawks)

My biggest issue here? The Center position. In the NBA's strictly defined positions, there are barely any centers that I rate very high. That is why Yao Ming makes it to my Western conference list. To be honest, I would have rather chosen Gasol at Center and upgraded someone like Carmelo Anthony as my forward in the West.

Similarly in the East, I would have rather taken Amar'e Stoudemire as Center if he had been listed in that position, but he was named forward.

Anyways, this is my list. Why don't you guys vote for your own and let me know.

Barbra Streisand...

So, Tim and I are heading to Cape Town tomorrow for a long weekend!  Woot woot!  And we are starting out the weekend with a friendly football (as in soccer) match between the US and South Africa!  What what!  Hells yes!  Be jealous!  It's gonna be fantastically awesome!  So, a little something to start out the weekend:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu_zwdmz0hE

This song hit the scene about two weeks ago and has become HUGE.  And I'm totally obsessed.

Also, the Cape Town folk are going to be especially grateful to see Tim in one piece after this was sent today:

Dear Kirk,

Mpilonhle is very concerned about the delays of the grant.  Mpilonhle therefore decided to take more drastic measures to put you and USAID under pressure to provide us with the money.   We very much like our grass roots soccer intern Tim.  He is in very good health right now, and you might want to keep it that way!    Please note that currently Tim is held captive in an undisclosed location behind the ABSA bank in Mtubatuba.  

All the best,

Christine

Clearly we are getting a lot done in the office.  Too much fun.  But, hysterically awesome.

Cliffhanger...

After a long day in the office today and a big meeting tomorrow, I can't really think straight, and definitely can't really wrap my head around things like love and death, so I've decided to extend my series over a few weeks. :) Hope you don't mind.  I also realize that I kind of regurgitated loads of information in my last post, which will also probably be the case with the next couple in the series, so I wanted to invite any questions.  I would love to answer what I can or expand on any issues that you are curious about.  It would be really cool to get a back-and-forth going on here.  There is definitely a lot to talk about.

More tomorrow when I'm all here...

All's fair in love and war...

So, I realized I have not had the chance to talk about two major aspects of culture here that are important pieces in understanding the larger society.  I have definitely referenced them once or twice, but I think it's worth taking some time to explore them more deeply.  First of all, dating (aka love) and second, death (which here can be thought of as war, but we will get to that...).  And they are more interrelated than you might think.  This will be a two part series, starting with dating.  My disclaimer is that these are both things that I am still constantly learning about, so this is just my perspective up until this point, two months in. (Can you believe it?!  Two months?!)

I have definitely discussed some of the ins and outs of dating and relationships here, even from the beginning, with TK and his family situation, and then some of my personal experiences, such as at the umemulo, as well as some references in my "You know you live in Africa when..." series.   It is important to note that dating is handled differently in different environments, between rural, town, and city, and among the different socioeconomic classes as well, which makes sense.  We have these same discrepancies in our own culture.  I am lucky enough to get a little taste of everything, with a lot of my friends from work having grown up in more urban areas and are pretty highly educated (nurses, social workers, etc) and then we work with populations, with whom we have discussions about relationships, sex, etc, that are very rural and often have limited education, providing another perspective.

The basics: Being in a relationship is standard.  The idea of Tim and I not being in a relationship is mind boggling.  "You mean, you don't have someone waiting for you at home?"  Nope.  Tim and I have talked a lot about this and we have decided it's related to people always needing to have companionship.  They always keep themselves surrounded by people.  We think that this is somehow related to mortality issues, which will be discussed in the next part of the series.  See?!  Already interconnected.  The concept of being alone is pretty frightening to them.  Like they were so concerned about me living here without Tim the first week, or when he's away for a bit.  Yes, it's partly about safety, but they always also ask "Aren't you lonely?".  Like they don't understand why we would ever seek out time alone, they don't see the value in this.  It explains a lot of why they feel so comfortable dropping in and staying awhile, which caught me off guard at first, but now I understand it's the thought of "Why wouldn't you want more people around you?".  I'm trying to teach them that dogs are a great replacement for people when dealing with loneliness but it's a hard sell.  Dogs are animals here pretty much. :)  Anyway, a significant other is pretty much a perma-companion.  Part of the commitment is always being there when you need them, so a nice safety net.  Brings a sense of comfort.

Now, let us remember that the whole time that these people were assuming that Tim and I had significant others/were having a hard time grasping the fact we didn't, they continued to try and set us up.  Because why not get some while you're here, and then you still have that guy waiting for you back home?  That brings us to the second point, cheating is standard.  This is especially true for men, but I see it with women as well.  So, basically, you have this significant other you are committed to, but you go out and sleep with/lead relationships with other people.  These other people can be one night stands or regular things, often old flames, that can either know that they are playing second fiddle or are also given the title "girlfriend".  Now, they are not shy about this, except around their significant other.  Like they don't really try and hide the affair from others.  Bringing other girls around their friends, etc.  Like I made the major mistake at our first party of meeting a girl that was being affectionate with a friend of mine who I knew to have a girlfriend and saying: "Oh!  You must be (fill in the blank)'s girlfriend!".  Nope.  Oops.  She laughed, "No, no, I'm his 'good friend'. "  Aaaah.  Gotcha.  And I'm sitting there looking around at everybody, noting all of our friends, and how I've seen them greet his girlfriend and be friendly with her, like they are all buddies.  But, they don't say a word.  This is totally kosher.  No big deal.  And these friends aren't all other guys.  It's girls, too.  It's not just a boys club thing.  It's an everybody thing.  Tim has some pretty funny stories with this guy too, like picking up ex-girlfriends, going out to drinks under the guise of being with Tim, make-out sessions with said ex-girlfriend in the back of the car while Tim's driving.  Oh dear.  And it's not just him.  It's all of them.  I was asking about another friend's girlfriend to one of our mutual female friends and she was like, "I don't know her that well.  But, I know his SECOND girlfriend pretty well, and she's cool."  Cool.  Awesome.  And he's supposed to be the sweet one.

From the female perspective, you have guys hitting on you left and right, even when you blatantly know they have a girlfriend.  "But, you have a girlfriend?"  "So?  I want to make you feel good."  Ummmm...  No.  Oh, and if they say they don't have a girlfriend, they probably do.  They all have girlfriends.  But, doesn't stop from them from trying.  Gotta give them props for their persistence.

So, the women don't know, but they know, you know what I mean?  Like it's obvious that this is what men do, because they don't hide it and it's in front of our faces all the time.  But, guys go through leaps and bounds to hide it from whatever woman/en they are particularly committed to at the time.  And it appears that they believe it, to a point, because they stay with these guys.  So, when you are talking to women about relationships in general and how it all works, they all very nonchalantly talk about how everybody cheats and its the norm, blah blah blah, nothing new and exciting, no big deal.  And when we are around guys, even our friends, and they are with girls who are obviously not their girlfriends, and I'll say, "Ummmm... that's not his girlfriend?", (Which, btw, I don't do anymore, quickly learned that, like within a week)  I usually get in reply: "Yeah.  Uh huh.", barely an acknowledgment, at the most, an eye roll towards the guy.  Like, yeah, whatever, his problem.  Apparently it is all explained by men's abundance of sexual needs and lack of control.  Like there is nothing we can do about that, it is what it is.  So, we know about it, and apparently accept it at some level, at least in the big picture.  But, then when it affects you personally, and perhaps a close friend or relative, then it hurts.  Then there is sadness and anger.  And it isn't pretty.  Trust me.

It's funny.  At first, I envied them.  How they all were like, "Yeah, they cheat, no big deal.  They're pigs and we deal with their shit".   I was like, power to ya!  Don't let them get you down!  Yes, sure, accepting it is not the best strategy, but in a society where men are often essential for economic reasons, I respected that these women didn't take this male behavior personally, as a reflection of themselves, but rather it was just what men did, part of their make-up.  They had nothing to do with it, and could do nothing about it.  But, then I realized, after pursuing personal stories rather than just big picture attitudes, that they do REALLY care and are VERY hurt by it.  I'm not sure if it's a belief that they can change him or that this one is different.  I'm still trying to understand that aspect.  But, I can tell you, they believe their man is not cheating on them like the rest of them, and when they find out otherwise, they are devastated, heartbroken.  Kind of an f-ed up cycle.

Now, Tim and I feel like we have found an obvious solution to all of this.  Of course!  It's so simple!  They just need to learn how to date.  :)  It astounds them that Tim and I have been with people that have not been part of committed relationships.  Like you can be seeing multiple people at once and it's not cheating.  No!  What?!  Crazy talk.  Oh, but yes, it's true.  But, how does it work?  They key is that you and the other people you are seeing have agreed that you can both be seeing other people.  Wait, what?  This seems like a ridiculous concept to them and they still don't understand how this isn't cheating.  I'm telling you, this is the solution to all their problems, and would bring more equality into the mix and let more women get out there more.  Ok, so it's obviously not that simple, but it's an idea.  As mentioned above, they are very attached to this idea of having a COMMITTED relationship.  I think it holds a sense of safety for them.  Being single is scary, scary stuff.  I mean, who wants to be single and alone?

Another option that I've observed a lot of more educated women have been opting for is sleeping with other women.  It's a trend I associate with them just being fed-up with the male machismo here.  They realize they are better than that and deserve more, so they go out and find more, with a female partner in a similar situation, creating a loving relationship with equality.  Though I will give the disclaimer that they are not immune to infidelity either.  Homosexuality is an interesting topic here, with some of the most liberal legislation in the world concerning homosexuality but accompanied by the awful stigma associated with a traditional, religious, and uneducated society.  I've had the privilege of getting to know some of these ladies and hanging out with them and have learned a lot.  I think it is worthy of its own post.  In due time.  Especially since I've said so much here already.  Eish.  Maybe this will be a multi-part series?  Cause there is still so much to talk about dating, including how children and marriage fit into all of this.

I will leave you with one anecdote, part of my inspiration for this piece:

So Tim and I have started playing tennis with some of our co-workers (details in another post, I promise).  My first day out I was partnered with our friend Musa.  We had a good set and he was very excited and was telling everyone how I would from now on always be his partner.  Forever and ever.  Always.  Every time.  The next week, he didn't show.  And our co-worker Johnathan was laughing and laughing, being like, "Remember how just like week he was saying he would always be your partner?  And where is he now?"  To which I responded, "Well, Johnathan, isn't that just like a South African man?  Promising to be there always and forever and then he doesn't show up?".  His wife started hysterically laughing. :)

PRADO!

So, there's good news and bad news.  Which do you want first?

I also go with the bad news first, get it over with quick, like a band aid, and then finish with something sweet.

Ok, bad news: the big purple bus is on the outs.  Not sure if it's gonna make it...  I know, sad. :(  Tim and I are keeping our hopes up, but I think we both know that the chance is slim that she makes it.  Our baby!

So, what could possibly be the good news?  Well, while we got a ride with Mike and Christine on Monday, they went to Jo'burg for a few days leaving us stranded, but, oh wait!  What is this?!  Mike is going to lend us his Prado so we can get to work and such?!  Oh hells yes!  Why is this so exciting, you ask?   Well because it has automatic capabilities, which means little old me can drive it.  Woot woot!  And Tim humored me the last few days, letting me do all the driving.  I have to say being able to drive gives me a huge dose of independence which is incredibly refreshing.

Driving here has also been my first time driving on the left.  Surprisingly easy.  Having the driver's seat on the right actually makes it amazingly natural.  I wouldn't say I'm quite ready for major city driving, but feeling pretty goods on the rough roads of Mtubatuba.  Oh, that's the other thing that's supes fun about driving here, a lot of dirt roads, four wheeling and such, and it's been especially exciting with all the rain.

Though, I think my favorite part of the adventure was getting to flash my hazards after someone moved towards the shoulder to let me pass. Woo!  Now I'm a real South African!  I thought I would take this opportunity to talk about some of the other interesting little quirks of South African driving.  Let's start with people flashing their brights as a "You're welcome!" in response to your "Thank you!" hazards flash.  Tim and I discussed how we should flash our hazards again as a "No! YOU'RE welcome!". :)  Flashing brights means another thing when you see them coming from an oncoming car.  In that case they are warning you of something ahead, for example, an accident.  But, usually, they are warning you of a speed trap, which is amazingly awesome.  It's a total "Fight the man!" move.  Everybody speeds and everybody is in support of it, including the slow drivers, except for the mofo police.  But, don't worry, we look out for each other, we got each others back.  I love it!

Though, the best part may be how the police manage a speed trap.  And yes, we have some personal experience with this.  Don't judge.  A speed trap comes in two forms.  First, there is the guy standing with a camera who snaps your photo and then sends the ticket, well I suppose the government sends you the ticket. Kind of like what we have with red lights and I think also on some highways.  But these are manned cameras, not automated.  Anything to create a job and keep one more person employed.  And you would think they would take advantage of them being people operated and therefore mobile.  But, no.  They are always in the same spot, staking people out.  So, you learn where they are and just slow down.  Slash people flash their brights.  Clearly these speed traps are real effective.

Now the second form is the best form.  Here they stand on the side of the road, and if you are speeding, which I am pretty convinced they mainly judge subjectively just by the looks of it, they stop you.  Now how do they stop you if they are standing out on the side of the road, you ask?  Do they jump into their badass squad car and chase after you?  Oh no, my friends.  Much, much better.  They literally step out into the middle of the road and stand at attention with their hand out while your vehicle is hurling at them at ridiculous speeds (hence why they feel the need to stop you).  Yes, that's right.  They just stand right in front of your car, right in the middle of your lane.  Now you pray you aren't going too fast and that your brakes are in good enough condition so that you can stop in time, because otherwise, if you can't stop, you will more than likely kill a policeman, which can't be good.  I had quite the scare the first time I witnessed it.  I wanted to just shake the police officer, "Are you out of your mind?!  Didn't your mother ever tell you not to step in front of a moving car?!"  I have to say the police here are pretty used to life-threatening activities with all the violent crime and what not, so this cheating death thing is probably just old hat for them.

And now, Mike and Christine are back, so no more Prado. :(  Until next time, Prado...  Now there is nothing to dull the pain of the big purple bus...  So sad!  But, we will always have the memories!  I will be sure to keep you posted on the prognosis of our little purple bubby!

And then...

... Andile came to pick me up.  But, not before there was some fun drama about her car not starting, that I was later to find out was because she had run down her battery the night before blasting music from her car while partying at her house.  Way to go Andi.  That little anecdote in and of itself pretty much sums up Andile.  She loves to party, is slightly reckless, but things always work out in her favor, because basically she has a deal with the devil.  Yeah, that's right.  Not only was she able to get her car started with a little help, the guy thought she was cute and so didn't charge her because she agreed to call him the next day.  Way to go Andi.  Did she learn anything from this experience?  Like how she probably shouldn't use her car as a sound system?  Nope, probably not.  And that's Andile.  The world is her oyster and she definitely takes the bull by the horns.  How many idioms can I use to describe this girl?  Andile is one of our social workers at Mpilonhle (on some level, a funny job for someone of her character) and also one of my closest friends here, always inviting me to come along and guaranteeing a good time (you might remember her from the umemulo or 21st birthday party she brought me to).  And she always takes care of me, checking up on me, having answers to all my questions, and looking out for me, for example. she is the one that came all the way up to the farm and surprised me with a cake on my birthday.  What an amazing friend!  And it's nice to have someone with her qualities on your side. :)

You may also remember Andile from her ghetto fabulous moment with Team Paramount

This Saturday we were off to Richards Bay to a basketball tournament that Andile was playing in.  It was fun to be around basketball.  As much as I love soccer, basketball is my first love.  I even got to shoot some hoops myself which was really fun.  And they were bumping some awesome hip-hop which was supes cool.  We also did a lot of driving /errands, like ice and alcohol runs.  Aka, welcome to Africa, and lots and lots of driving.  Just when things were heating up in the tournament, the rain came.  Boo!  I can't complain too much though because while they figured out the next move for the tournament, there was a badass freestyle battle.  No, I did not participate.  I didn't want to steal all the glory with my mad skills. :)

Just as Andile and I were about to peace, they made moves to transfer the tournament to an indoor gym.  Next thing I know, we were on the road again, this time to the University of Kwazulu-Natal's gym.  We got there in time to watch an awesome boys game between a local under 25 team and their opponents from Swaziland (the Swazis are the ones with swanky uniforms).

Between games I was introduced to a "nice guy" they were trying to set me up with.  And as lovely as he was (he was actually the nicest and most polite guy I've met here), he insisted on distracting me from the girls' game which Andile was playing in, and was the actual reason for my presence.  Well, they ended up getting smashed by the Swazi team, so it might of been a blessing I didn't have to watch the massacre.  I was able to get a couple shots:

The team.  I won't identify my patient for the sake of confidentiality. :)

But, just as the game was ending, literally with like four seconds to go, I hear the guy say "Oooph, she looks hurt," looking past me.  I of course was looking the other way, trying to stay engaged in the conversation, and therefore missed the entire thing.  I look back and see a girl down.  My new buddy, who recently learned I was a medical student, suggested "Should you go down there?", to which I responded, "No, no.  They will get me if they need me..."  And then... no more than five seconds later... "Jess, Jess, come here!".  Oh great.  I quickly moved my way through the crowd and down to the floor to whispers of "Who's a doctor?  Oh!  She's a doctor?!  Oh.  She's a doctor."  I get down there to people claiming her shoulder is dislocated.  Great.  Musculoskeletal.  My favorite.  In my quick initial assessment I conclude that she isn't going to die, but is in some major pain and some shock from the whole event.  I decide to move her out of the gym and the hub-bub of the crowd, which was easier said then done, being as this was an African gym and under construction, so it was a little bit of a hike with some obstacles.  When we finally got her out into the fresh air I was able to convince myself it wasn't dislocated, but with some limited range of motion, she could of potentially torn something, like her rotator cuff.  The major challenge to the assessment was the patient's distress.  She was pretty much wigging out to the point that I was afraid she was going to hyperventilate herself.  I tried to get her to do some breathing exercises with some success.  I felt secure that she didn't need to go a hospital that second and could last the night with some ibuprofen (which I popped her 800 mg of), ice and some rest.  But, her sister, Andile's good friend, was pretty shaken up by the whole situation and opted to go to the clinic.  Probably not a bad idea being as the one thing she said that concerned me was that her arm felt tingly, making me think it was possible that she could of dislocated it and re-located it, pinching a nerve.  So, off we went to the clinic, Andile driving, and me and the sister supporting the patient, which was more reassurance than anything.  Poor girly, she was just scared and in pain.

Now we were on a hunt for an open clinic at 6:30 pm on a Saturday, not an easy feat in rural South Africa.  We had a couple hits and misses and ended up at a strip mall with me more than confused.  Apparently we were heading to a clinic in the back of a local pharmacy.  Sounded less than promising to me when looking at this poor girl in pain, which was an accurate assumption.  All the other patients waiting let us move to the front of the line after they saw our poor patient.  The nurse took one look at her, tried to move her arm an inch, which was received by a bawl, and immediately directed us to the hospital.  So, we called the ambulance.  This is another new concept for me.  Apparently whenever you need a ride to the hospital, urgent or not, you call the ambulance.  The nurse expressed her concern to me that the ambulance was going to be a long wait, over a half an hour.  Half an hour?!  Seriously?!  I convinced the crowd that we should transport ourselves in some manner to the hospital.  So back in the car, with a snack on the way, and up to the government hospital.

Man, the government hospital was a trip.  The first patient we saw when we walked in was a guy standing up, covered in blood, holding an IV bag he was hooked up to, with a giant bandage over his eye.  God, what I wouldn't of given to see what was under that bandage.  It was nice to pass the patient off to more competent care, especially being as I really had no idea what was going on other than I knew she wasn't dying.  Yay!  Go me!  Throughout the entire process I kept reminding them "Now, let's all remember, I'm a STUDENT doctor, not a real doctor."  Anyways, once she was in the waiting room and being triaged I had a chance to check out the scene.  Urgent care on a Saturday night in a South African government hospital in a township is gnarly shit my friends.  People are SICK.  The waiting room is full of people, many lying on stretchers, looking less than stable.  Even the stab victims that come in are triaged in the waiting room like the rest of the people to determine if they are worthy to be rolled back to the treatment area.  We saw a couple super gnarly stab victims roll in, one in the neck, shaking, going into shock, and another a few minutes after, literally stabbed in the back, postured, potentially already dead.  We later found out they had actually stabbed each other explaining why the police showed up soon after.  They were both brought in by their respective family/friends, so lots of drama.  The government hospital is a hopping spot on a Saturday night, with the number of visitors/supporters growing all the time.  I do have to say that all of it made me realize how much I miss the hospital, especially when we saw the stab victims and all I wanted to do was go back with them and stitch them up, while Andile was thoroughly grossed out.

Eventually we received good news: no dislocation, no breaks, nothing urgent, tears still a potential, but at this point just drugged up nice and good (her tingling went away once she was sedated by the drugs, probably just a combo of hyperventilation and initial shock).  After the relief set in, so did the exhaustion.  All plans to go clubbing that night were out the window.  Now we just had to regroup to get ourselves home.  This meant dropping off our patient and her sister and getting our crew together, which included a lot more driving and searching some local bars in the now deserted town.  Nope, not sketchy at all, not at all.  We all stayed at the farm that night and pretty much passed out when we got home.

By the time I woke up at eight the next morning and everybody was already drinking, clearly the consensus was that we were going to make up for the day before.  This included a trip to the shisa nyama (an ingenious idea that I will explain later- basically it just combines the best things in the world- meat, bread, and beer), and spending the afternoon drinking, listening to music, and shooting the shit in St. Lucia with the crew.  This of course included the classic Zulu components of a lot of driving and a lot of waiting in parking lots, another MSK injury that I had to regulate on, and my fill of drunk Zulu men for a while, all just adding to the experience of the weekend.  But, overall, it was a good time and definitely much needed after the drama from the day before.

So, in conclusion: Andile is amazingly awesome and there is no one else I would rather experience ridiculous unplanned adventures with! :)  Thanks for all the story making moments this weekend Andi!  Heart you!  And hope you guys enjoyed this very long winded story. :)

Anitha P. Won't Back Down

The Delhi Commonwealth Games may have missed out on a basketball tournament, but four years ago, the competition took place at the Games in Melbourne. Back in March 2006, the Indian Women’s team were baptised by fire in their very first game, as they played in the preliminary round against Australia, the hosts and the strongest team in the world. Australia made full use of their squad’s experience at the international level, and boasted by Lauren Jackson, one of the greatest women players in the world, they made mincemeat of the Indian team. The Australians went on to clinch the gold medal at the competition.

But during that blowout victory, the Indian eves, however outmatched, showed their bravest face against the world’s best. Leading the squad was a confident 21-year-old youngster that dared to challenge the world’s best player in her own court. Lauren Jackson (6 foot 4 in) may have scored 41 easy points against India, but the young and undersized forward Anitha Pauldurai (5 foot 6 in) from the Indian side didn’t back down, playing a game-high 36 minutes and leading her team with 21 points.

Four years later, Anitha remembers that game against Jackson as one of the most memorable nights of her life. Considering the way this 25-year-old has evolved her game, she can be sure that there will many more nights like that to come.


Anitha, a resident of Chennai, started playing basketball at the age of 11, but admits that early on, she wasn’t a fan of the sport. “I used to like volleyball and athletics more,” she said, “But when I was in school, the basketball coach recommended that I try the game. The more I played, the more interested I became in the sport.”

As she kept improving and working her way up the ranks, Anitha was also lucky enough to be part of a family that supported her ambitions. Her father, a retired police head-constable, gave her the green light early to do ‘whatever she liked’, and Anitha didn’t look back. “I didn’t really have a role model in the game,” Anitha said, “I just love sport and love to play. I joined the game of basketball, got good coaching, and so I continued.”

After years of success, Anitha now finds herself as in integral part of the Indian Sr. Women’s Team that is heading to Guangzhou, China, to take part in the 2010 Asian Games. The team is being coached by the former WNBA player and American head coach Tamika Raymond, who has seen great potential in the Tamil Nadu girl.

Anitha’s unique skill-set ensures that she can become a devastating weapon for India. She plays the small forward position in the team, or the “three” – but has the ability to control the ball and play point guard as well. This ability to switch between positions, her skill to drive in and attack the basket, and her high shooting percentage, all add up to create a great all-round player.


The team has spent the past month working with Raymond in Chennai, and is now ready to head out to China for the Asian games, which are set to kick off on November 12th. “I’m very happy to have Coach Raymond working with us,” says Anitha. “Her coaching style is very different. We know we are many years behind the world’s best, so we’re working hard with her to catch up. Our practices have been shorter, but extremely intense.”

The Women’s team is still searching for an identity, but Anitha hopes that a few practice games before the real tournament kicks off will help each player understand their role. Anitha is already looking forward to the challenge that the Indians can pose. “We have some good players,” she said, “Geethu has the potential to be in the WNBA. The rest of the squad is a young, exciting team. What they lack in experience they make up by aggression!”

Anitha seems to be the perfect archetype of the aggressive, confident, young Indian player. Her favourite move, she says, is to slash and drive in to the basket, wading by two or three defensive players, and scoring. She dreams of looking opponents in the eye and driving to score past them.

Be it competition like China, Korea, and Thailand that the Indian Women’s team will face in Guangzhou, or Lauren Jackson, the world’s best, one thing is for sure: Anitha P. won’t back down!