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'Hoops for Health' hoping to make a difference beyond sport

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Sport is one of the best ways to unite people together. Whether it was the 2004 Indian cricket team's "Friendship Tour" of Pakistan following years of mistrust of the Kargil war, or the conflict-ridden Palestine hosting its first ever international football game in 2008, sport can provide a way to rehabilitate those in need, find common ground between conflicting cultures, and provide a healthy, competitive alternative to the harsher realities of life.

One such effort has been by the 'Hoops for Health' basketball school that has been making a difference in the lives children under extremely hostile conditions in Kashmir, breaking language, cultural, and national barriers. There is no better way to rehabilitate some of these youngsters who have already been through atrocities in their young lives than through lessons and activities of sport. The project is a collaboration between basketball school jdBasketball and independent, non-profit organization Child Nurture and Relief (CHINAR).

jdBasketball is the brainchild of American basketball coach and entrepreneur JD Walsh, who has spent several years in India coaching basketball as well as using the game as a vehicle for social change.

CHINAR is an organization working for the psychosocial rehabilitation of orphaned and vulnerable children in conflict areas. They operate in the conflicted Kashmir area with a mission to "to provide a stable and nurturing environment for children in need, which encourages and equips them to reach their highest potential and effectively meet challenges in life."

In 2007, CHINAR began working with the jdBasketball to conduct a 3 year basketball programme, 'Hoops for Health'. The event garnered national attention, bringing to light the problem and this new innovation solution for social change. Hoops for Health was awarded the Nike/Ashoka Foundation Changemaker Award for using basketball to affect social change in their community.

This year, 'Hoops for Health' has been entered into nomination for the Beyond Sport awards. Beyond Sport is a global organisation that promotes, develops and funds the use of sport to create positive social change across the world - the awards programme provides support worth $1 million annually to projects across the world that use sport to address issues within their communities.

For their work in Kashmir, 'Hoops for Health' has been entered for awards in two categories: the Sport for Health Award and the UNICEF Sport for Education Award. Please click on these links to comment your support on jdBasketball-Chinar.org's efforts.

Other entries from India in the Beyond Sport categories this year are Rural Challengers- an audacious initiative and Project Green Hands

The last date for the 2010 Beyond Sport Awards entries is April 16, 2010. A shortlist of the nominations will be revealed in May, and the winners of the awards will be unveiled at the Beyond Sport Summit from September 27-30 2010 in Chicago.

Dikembe Mutombo, Former NBA Player and Founder, Dikembe Mutomobo Foundation: "Meeting all the inspirational people behind the sport and development projects shortlisted for the Beyond Sport Awards was a truly memorable experience. If we can get more people to follow the lead of these initiatives that we saw first-hand at the Summit then we can create real social impact across the world."

I've closely followed JD Walsh's efforts in India and hope that his work with CHINAR and the children in Kashmir can be boosted with much-needed support if the programme is to win a Beyond Sport Award.

Read about JD Walsh's Slumdog Basketball initiative in the Mumbai slums.

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Hibachi!

"Hibachi!"

It's 2007, and I'm playing ball at the Royal Park court in Leeds. We haven't yet started a game - my friend Zyman and I are just shooting around at one of the four baskets on the outdoor court. Before taking every wild, ill-advised three-pointer, we shout out odes to our favourite basketball players, perhaps for inspiration, but mostly because its goddamn funny.

"Kobe!" says Zyman.

"Hibachi!" I shout. After nine bricks I finally score a swish. Gilbert Arenas is watching.

It's 2008. Arenas has played only eight games the whole season due to a knee injury. The Wizards play the Cavs in the playoffs, but with his skills limited, Arenas is barely able to make a difference and save his team from making a first round exit.

It's the year 2004-2007, and the world is at the height of ArenaMania. Playing in his best years with the Washington Wizards, Arenas was an All Star in all three seasons. He led the Wizards to the playoffs in 2005, 2006, and 2008, and at one point, had the team looking like amongst the best in the East. He averaged 25.5 ppg in 2004-05, 29.3 in 2006-06, and 28.4 in 2006-07. He scored a franchise record 60 points (with 8 assists and 8 rebounds) against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers in an overtime victory at the Staples Centre, including an NBA record 16 points in overtime. He was so ruthless in those years, that especially after that one game, Kobe friggin Mamba Bryant called him "cold-blooded".

It's now 2009 - The season that he signed a six-year $111 million contract with the Wizards - Arenas missed almost the entire season due to his injuries, and only played two games in the end.

Back to 06-07: Arenas, also known as 'Agent 0', has made 11 of the first 13 buzzer beaters he took in the 2006-07 season, the most amazing of which were game-winners against the Bucks and the Jazz in the space of two weeks. In both situations, Arenas had the ball in the final seconds with the score tied, and in both situations, he decided to shoot a long three. And in both situations, he celebrated the basket even before it went in. Now that's gangsta.

I can never get tired of watching this...





December 24th, 2009: It's two and a half years later, and it is revealed that Arenas had stored unloaded firearms in his locker at the Verizon Centre (the Wizards home-court). In doing so, he not only violated NBA rules against bringing firearms into an arena, but also violated D.C. ordinances as well.

Almost exactly two years prior to that incident, Arenas is voted the best celebrity blogger by the 2007 Weblog Awards. He becomes the world's first blog superstar, and his hilarious and honest writings about life as an NBA superstar make him the most loved and approachable player in the league. He was the player's player, a fan of the game just like every fan that followed him.

Eight days after the story about Arenas having firearms in his locker, it is revealed on January 1, 2010, Arenas and teammate Javaris Crittenton had unloaded guns in the Wizards' locker room during a Christmas Eve argument regarding gambling debts. The D.C. Metropolitan Police and the U.S. Attorney's office began investigating, and on January 14, 2010, Arenas was charged with carrying a pistol without a license, a violation of Washington D.C.'s gun-control laws.

While the investigation is in process, Arenas continues to take matters lightly, and being famously photographed making finger-gun signs during Wizards pre-game warm-up.

Four years before this incident, while having a career-best season, Arenas begins to shout-out "Hibachi" every time he takes a jump shot. A "hibachi", according to Wikipedia, literally means "fire bowl", and its a traditional Japanese heating device. "In English, however, "hibachi" often refers to small cooking grills typically made of aluminium or cast iron, with the latter generally being of higher quality. Owing to their small size, hibachi grills are popular as a form of portable barbecue." The 6 foot Arenas was a little fire-bowl, ready to burn up anything that came in his way.

I'm jumping to the present now. David Stern, commissioner of the NBA, learns about "Hibachi's" shenanigans and decides to suspend him for the rest of the NBA season. He becomes set to miss 60 games in 2009-2010. The real kicker was this quote added by the commish: "Although it is clear that the actions of Mr. Arenas will ultimately result in a substantial suspension, and perhaps worse, his ongoing conduct has led me to conclude that he is not currently fit to take the court in an NBA game."

Ouch!

In February 2007, Gilbert's fans vote him in as a starter for the Eastern Conference in the 2007 All-Star Game, thus solidifying his position as one of the most popular players in the game. In July 2008, Gilbert Arenas makes his way to the Philippines, where he was damn near worshipped by the basketball-crazy fans.

Pulling a gun on Crittenton wasn't the first time that Arenas played a tasteless prank on a teammate. Go back in time a to 2005 and here comes the funniest and most shocking of recent locker room stories: Arenas actually took a shit in teammate Andray Blatche's shoes - and he got away with it!

March 26, 2010, four days ago, Arenas was convicted of his crimes. He was sentenced to 30 days in a halfway house and two years probation.

Now, let me take you waaay back. It is 2001, the night of the NBA draft, and the talented Mr. Arenas doesn't get picked by any team in the first round. Finally, with the 31st pick, the Golden State Warriors drafted him. With a vendetta against every other team that had overlooked him, Arenas went on a destructive streak, and by the time his second season in the NBA ended, he was named the league's Most Improved Player.

In 2006, now as part of the Wizards, he wasn't picked for the USA team for the FIBA World Championships, his talents and injuries cited as reasons for him to not fit into the team model. He followed the snub with a vengeance, destroying everyone else that came in his way again for the next season.

And in 2009, after only playing 15 regular season games in the last two years, and after being written off by everyone related to the game, Agent 0 started the first two months of the new season with notable performances such as a triple double against the Pacers and 45 points in a win against his former team, the Warriors.

I'm back in 2007 now. Back at the Royal Park Court. Back shooting three-pointers with a "Hibachi" shoutout, and back turning my back to celebrate the baskets even before they go in. My inspiration is Arenas, one of my favourite players, and certainly one of the most perplexing individuals in basketball. It's difficult to like him after all the foolishness and the mistakes, and it's difficult to hate someone like him with such an explosive talent and fan-friendly personality. Maybe that's the reason why he's one of my top five nominees of current NBA players that I would like to see visit India.

He's suffered through a career of downs and each time, has answered them with succesful comebacks. It is long known that Arenas performs best when he plays with a vendetta. In about seven months, at the start of the 2010-11 season, he may have a chance to prove that again. Agent 0 is officially dead - Arenas has joined LeBron to be a #6 next season, but here's hoping that the on-court drive, the swagger, the cold-bloodedness remains the same.

Here's hoping that the Hibachi will be back on fire.

Alexsander Bucan: Bringing in a foreign coach doesn't guarantee that the quality will improve

Krishnakumar KH from Express Buzz interviewed Alexsander Bucan, the head coach of the Indian Men's basketball team, during Coaches Coaching Clinic in Kochi a few weeks ago. Bucan, an experienced Serbian coach, has been in-charge of the Young Cagers for around two years. Here are some excerpts from that interview:

India, says Bucan, has the potential to bloom in the ‘simple’ business of getting through a maze of giant bodies to ram a huge ball through a basket raised high on a pole. Easier said than done, he accepts. But if China, Russia and Iran can do it, so can India, feels the affable Bu­can...

“The Russians and the Chinese are not the biggest of people,” he points out. “But they have tall players in their basketball and volleyball teams. That means they identified talent at an early age and put them through scientific training to produce world-class athletes. The same is possible in India.” But Bucan contends that producing world-class athletes requires an overhaul of the “amateurish system” in India. “It is professionalism that gets you results,” he says. “You need to begin early and find young talent with the right build. Then they need systematic training that includes fitness training, nutritional care and psychology sessions.” The Serb has no doubt India has the talent. “I ha­ve seen many talented players at the school and college levels in India. Some are more gifted th­an the national players. Sadly, most of them drop off the game to further their studies or go looki­ng for jobs. No one is rea­lly interested in leaving everything else behind and concentrating solely on the game.”

“There is no way the team can impro­ve without playing stro­ng opposition regularly,” he says. Further, Bucan is not one to boast without a blueprint — infrastructure, academies, age-gr­oup tournaments, camps, a professional national league at the senior level and cheering crowds.

“Just because you bring in a fo­reign coach, for any ga­me, there is no guarantee the quality will improve,” he says.

However, the national coach is quick to point out the improvement made by the cagers in the past few years. “There has been a big difference in standards in the past two years,” he says. “But the real difference can be made only with long-term strategies. Stress should be laid on the under-16 level to unearth players with potential.”
The most significant achievement during the past two years is the triumph of the Indian under-17 team at the 2008 Asian FIBA 33 championship — which allows just three players per team. It was the first time an Indian basketball team at any level had achieved such a feat. “We beat the Philippines, where basketball is as big as cricket in India,” says Bucan.
Regarding coaching, he feels it is tactical play that requires greater attention once the basics are in place. “We are far behind world-class standards in terms of contact play,” he says. “Also, there has to be more set play than what the players are used to here.”

Read the full article here.

What I found particularly interesting about this interview was Bucan's admittance that bringing in a foreign coach doesn't neccessarily guarantee an improvement. We Indians have historically had a niggling inferiority complex to foreigners, and this is true in sports, too: Gary Kirsten has managed to steadily improve the cricket team, but the credit for that should go to the captain MS Dhoni as much as the coach. Sure, it is neccessary for our coaches to learn new skills and techniques from around the world, but it is also important for the coach to know about local knowledge, playing styles, and conditions, to offer a holistic improvement of the team.

I also hate to say this, but in more cases than not, a positive fact about bringing in a foreign coach is that he or she is free from the political pressures and the corruption at every rung of the ladder that Indian coaches have to suffer through. This freedom tends to insinuate misunderstanding or jealousy amongst their local counterparts who are already used to a certain system, but in the end, the priority is to worry about a degree of professionalism in team selection and play.

Living the Game: The need for a grassroots basketball movement in India

In large pockets of America, basketball is more than a sport — it is a part of everyday life. A basketball court is a social center, basketball shoes are essential fashion accessories, and hip-hop music/culture remains eternally intertwined with the game. In such cultures, “playing ball” is more than being in a professional league, a college tournament, or as part of a fitness regime — “playing ball” starts from the grassroots, it’s a recreational activity, just something to do, something embedded deeply in the lifestyle.

The English, and other Europeans, and South Americans have football — the soccer kind of football — it is for them a recreation, a get-together with friends, the perfect pastime.

In India, our favorite pastime is cricket. Every thin lane, or gullie in India is a cricket pitch, every wooden stick a bat, every round object a ball. It is deeply embedded in modern Indian culture — the majority of Indian societies see children having impromptu cricket matches in their neighborhood, by the ghats of the Ganga, every barren field is a stadium, cricket references and metaphors have become part of everyday speak in the country, and get-togethers in roadside tea-shops only discuss cricket scores.

The result of our addiction with cricket is that it has become the biggest thing in India since Butter Chicken. Cricket apparel rules in athletic stores across the country, the majority of sport news in India is about cricket, and every Indian from every strata of society unites under the banner of cricket. That is why India is now one of the strongest cricket teams in the world, Indian players the world’s best, and the Indian Premier League (IPL) of cricket the world’s richest.

So when the NBA decided to tap the 1.2 billion strong Indian market to popularize basketball, they knew they were up against some tough competition. After launching an NBA-India website, their most recent development has been a deal with rich industrial conglomerate Mahindra Group to launch a recreational league in three Indian cities: Mumbai, Bangalore, and Ludhiana. The league will tip off in a month’s time and will last for seven weeks.

Eventually the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) plans to launch school and college leagues with the NBA’s guidance to promote the sport amongst the youth. When I spoke to BFI president Harish Sharma, he said the idea is to use the school, college, and city recreational league as a launch-pad to eventually develop a professional basketball league in India in three years time.

Yes, these efforts are going to increase urban interest for basketball in India, but will it really influence more people to love basketball the same way they love cricket? Everyone interested in the development of basketball in India (BFI, NBA, and those working for the game on a local level) admit their eventual goal is to make it the second favorite sport in the country, but even for that to happen, the game has to be more culturally ingrained into our lifestyles.

I believe what is really needed is a grassroots movement, a movement to make basketball more than a game but a culture. Why does the NBA, for example, sell so easily in a country like the Philippines? NBA players have created waves in the Philippines for years, including the famous Gilbert Arenas trip a few years ago. The answer: So influenced by Americanism, basketball is part of everyday lifestyle in the Philippines, bringing with it its swagger, the hip-hop culture, and NBA fanaticism.

For India, one such movement to popularize basketball into rural and grassroots lifestyle is the Sumpoorna Basketball School. Sumpoorna is the name of a basketball camp — or like its founder Subhash Mahajan likes to call “a grassroots basketball revolution” — that has been slowly growing in small, rural town of Tumkur in Southern India over the past five years. Driven by a lifelong love of basketball, Mahajan has set up this basketball camp mostly for small town and village youth, which has grown over the years to have taught basketball basics to up to 6,000 youngsters around the rural area, and launched the Sumpoorna Basketball Tournament where dozens of small school and recreational teams compete against each other.

Mahajan, who is from Kapurthala in Punjab, spent nearly three decades as a basketball coach before setting up the Sumpoorna School in 2005. He chose Tumkur, which is a village near the much-larger and richer city of Bangalore, in Karnataka.

“In India, sports and money are not compatible,” Mahajan said, “Unless of course, that sport is cricket. Selling the game of basketball amongst city kids in posh schools might change the commercial culture, but the love of the sport has to come from the grassroots level — it seems that I’m fighting this battle alone.”

“In India, kids below Grade 9 can still be engaged in basketball and taught the basics — unfortunately, after that, they have to turn toward their ‘real life’, their studies, their other career, and basketball fades away.”

Mahajan’s camp is a unique concept for India — it is a summer camp of basketball skills in a rural area. He has spent his own money into a large basketball campus, where he already has three courts and is now investing for 13 more. Kids who join the camp for around five days, where they stay in residence and play ball, all day.

As the awareness and interest for the game has spread, Mahajan has been able to organize large tournaments, and is looking to get larger. “We want to tie up with more schools, especially from the bigger cities, so that they can learn basics. I want them to live the game and not just play it.” A major step that Mahajan is looking to take with Sumpoorna is to invite senior basketball players in India to oversee and promote the Sumpoorna tournaments.

Another unique feature of the Sumpoorna tournaments has been that the games are played without refs. Indian sport has an unfortunate reputation of being shrouded in corruption and bias — and the referees have regularly been the ones footing the blame for unfair calls and pre-meditated results. The injustice was highlighted a little more than a month ago, when the referees and officials were accused of helping the home team at a major national university tournament. At Sumpoorna, the players are expected to resolve the calls amongst themselves, and more often than not, the system works.

“The players from the age 9 onwards are taught to self referee and agree on consensual play,” he said, “It is basketball at its best — the way we played it here forty years ago.”

Mahajan is from an old-school brand of hoop lovers who played the game because they were addicted to the game, and even after his prime, he could never leave the game behind. With Sumpoorna, he has been able to provide a platform through which youngsters can become hoop addicts from an early age, and as they grow, basketball becomes part of their cultural upbringing.

If these efforts are complemented by the popularization of the game in urban India, we could be heading toward a future where basketball could become a more common pastime, and as the number of players grows, the quality of basketball will eventually improve, too.

*First published on SLAMONline.com on March 25, 2010.

Which current NBA player would you like to see in India?

Aye! So, it's no secret that the NBA is now showing a lot of interest in India, with the Basketball Without Borders programmes, Court Dedications, launch of the NBA.com/India site, and of late, the collaboration with Mahindra to launch the new Mahindra-NBA recreational league.

The recreational league, set to be held in Mumbai, Bangalore, and Ludhiana, will be tipping off in Mumbai in mid-April and coming to an end in the first week of June. Rumours are that the NBA is looking to send a current star to India for the finale! This is an exciting oppurtunity not only for NBA stars to get a glimpse of the Indian environment and Indian basketball, but also for our fans to see one of their basketball idols.

NBA players have been to India before, obviously - no disrespect, but enough with the Kyle Korvers and Ronny Turiafs... The biggest stars to have been in India in recent years have been Robert Parish and Dominique Wilkins (both long retired), Baron Davis (who held youth clinics in India) and Kevin Garnett (who came as part of an adidas promotional tour).

We need bigger stars, with a bigger draw - India is a country of 1.2 billion people, and even a small minority of basketball fans here is a gargantuan number. Hell, even the Philipines gets regular All Star visits, including Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, and most-famously, Gilbert Arenas.

So which current NBA star do you want to see come June? Here are my nominations...

1. Kobe Bryant: A no-brainer. The biggest name in basketball today, the champion, Finals MVP. India has been force-fed Kobe and the Lakers for an entire decade, back when Kobe ran with Shaq uptil now, when he runs with Gasol, Artest, Odom, and Bynum. The Lakers as a brand are also one of the most popular teams in India.

2. LeBron James: Trust me, I hate to make this a Kobe-LeBron thing. Kobe-LeBron. LeBron-Kobe. It seems every week there is a minimum of one Cavs or Laker game shown on ESPN/Star India. LeBron James blah blah blah Cleveland Cavaliers blah blah MVP MVP blah blah India loves blah best player in the league.

3. Shaquille O'Neal: I'm serious. Shaq in India will be hilarious. I can just see the photobook in my head: Shaq wearing a turban. Shaq riding an elephant. Shaq doing the bhangra. Shaq dressed up in a dhoti. I don't even feel I need to justify this one. Forget about the fact that Shaq isn't an all world talent anymore, the guy is as famous an NBA name as one can be in India.



4. Dwyane Wade: Wade is my favourite basketball player, and the most talented one outside of Kobe-LeBron (sorry Durant, Dwight, Melo, etc). I'd love to see him visit India, and subsequently, gain more popularity since he is still underrated internationally (shocking!!). The former NBA champion, Finals MVP, and this year's All Star MVP needs more exposure to my fellow countrymen who have otherwise been binging on Laker and Cavalier game - unfortunately, the Heat are just not succesful enough these days for him to make the same kind of waves.

5. Gilbert Arenas: Hey, they really loved him in the Phillipines. And ever since his, umm, gun-slinging incident, a season-long suspension has given "Hibachi" a lot more time in his hands. Maybe he's the only one who's free to come to India. Still, let's not forget that despite the stupidity and the injuries, Arenas remains not only one of the most talented basketball players in the world, but also one of the most approachable. He has a reputation for being fan-friendly and entertaining, and we will definitely welcome that attitude in India. Just leave the guns home - we have enough of our own, thank you.

Honourable Mentions that closely missed this list...

- Allen Iverson: Not officially a "current" player, since he's teamless. Also relatively washed-up, AI still has a legion of fans in this country, thanks to his explosive younger years and Reebok.

- Ron Artest: I would love to see him getting pissed off, when stuck in the Mumbai traffic, another commuter calls him out.

- Steve Nash: All around nice guy, likes football, will teach us a tip or two about offence.

Mega Sports Summit in Mumbai next week

Aiming to create "a sports revolution in the country", sports and entertainment company SE TransStadia will be organizing a massive sports summit, the biggest of its kind in India, in Mumbai, from March 24-25. Amongst the several political and sport-related attendees from around the world will include members of the management board of the NBA's San Antonio Spurs.

Hey, I always knew the Spurs have an eye for great foreign players - Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and Tim Duncan isn't exactly American, either (Virgin Islands, actually). Looking for the next big thing by making contacts in India already?

From The Hindu:

Talking about the initiative, Udit Sheth, MD and CEO of TransStadia says “Sport has ceased to be a vocational activity and has emerged as a billion dollar industry. We aim at bringing together a potpourri of global and Indian sports celebrities and administrators, under one roof to come up with ideas to transform Indian sports.”
He adds, "There is tremendous change in the way we look at sports in India. It is on par with any other industry. Innovative sports development events such as the IPL have clearly put sports in a pole position. Unfortunately, Indian sports is divided and fragmented and lacks collective thinking. We need to chart a new path and aim to do that by bringing in the best of talent in sports administration, government, people connected to sports infrastructure and the media on a single platform," says Sheth.

Aside from the Spurs management, other attendees will include Gujrat Chief Minister and World Class Choot Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Maharashtra Ashok Chavan, President of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) Suresh Kalmadi, Australian cricketer Matthew Hayden, and representatives from the English Premier League.