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Reaching for heights

Hordes of youngsters swarm IGMC to learn dribbling techniques, reports J.R.Shridharan

DIFFERENT BALLGAME Children learning the basics of basketball at a summer coaching camp at IGMC stadium in Vijayawada PHOTO: CH. VIJAYA BHASKAR

Come summer, city's Indira Gandhi Municipal Stadium is abuzz with coaching camps and basketball has emerged as the favourite game of youngsters. Considered as one of the fastest games of the world, cement courts at the stadium are witnessing over 70 hoopsters learning the rudiments under the watchful eyes of Sports Authority of India (SAI) coach Rajendra Prasad.

"We have 48 fresh players this season, along with 22 experienced players, who represented Andhra Pradesh, Krishna district and Nagarjuna University. Though we received an overwhelming response for the camp, we have selected the best players considering their height and speed," Prasad says.

Presence of experienced players will inspire the rookies to get hooked to the game, he feels. Youngsters from all over the city are busy learning the game's fundamentals like dribbling, passing and shooting along with a rigorous fitness regime, in mornings and evenings.

"Height plays an important role for a player to excel in basketball. The next vital ingredient is speed. My area of concentration is to generate more speed among the youngsters to meet the future challenges," observes Prasad.

Eye-to-hand-coordination

A variety of shooting skills are also imparted to the hoopsters, as this manoeuvre brings in the all-important points to the team. "Shooting the ball into the basket is the final act. There are various forms of shots - set shot, running shot, jump shot and rebound (collecting the ball from the missed shot and shooting it into the basket). One should have a keen eye-to-hand coordination to release the ball into the basket. We are conducting competitions among the players to identity the best shooters," Mr. Prasad says.

After two weeks of training, Mr. Prasad was able to identify a couple of potential hoopsters, who, he feels, have all the qualities to blossom into quality players if trained continuously. "Young Praveen of Boyapati Sivaramakrishnaiah School, Kiran of Montessori High School and Nagabhushan, Chandrasekhar and Prasad have the wherewithal to excel in major tournaments. The need of the hour is to impart them continuous practice after the camp."

The coach has decided to call the parents of the talented hoopsters to the camp to enable them to watch their children playing the game to perfection and get convinced about their ability.

"I want to enlighten the parents on the importance of regular coaching. If these boys are groomed intensively for one year, they can play for the district and also for the State," he says emphatically.

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