Team India Women's coach Francisco Garcia to hold basketball clinic in Nagpur

Since he was hired as the new Head Coach of India's senior women's team about 18 months ago, Francisco Garcia has picked up an intimate understanding of the basketball structure in India and the requirements to help propel the national squad to greater heights. Now, the coach out of Spain will be heading out on the field and into the grassroots to Nagpur to help burgeoning basketball talent in the city and potentially scout more young players to represent India at the international stage.

As part of The Times of India's 'Nagpur for Kids' campaign, Garcia will be at the 'Orange City' in Maharashtra from January 9-13. The coach is scheduled to hold activities with city kids on January 10th and then guide selected players at the Shankar Nagar-based Dharampeth Krida Mandal (DKM) courts on January 11-12. The selected players will take part in four training sessions during these two days, at the end of which, Garcia may recommend the top players to be selected for national basketball camps by the Basketball Federation of India (BFI).

The programme is a unique initiative of the BFI to identify talented players at the grassroots level. The special clinic materialized due to the efforts of the BFI's CEO Roopam Sharma, the Nagpur District Basketball Association (NDBA), The Times of India, and DKM officials. Last year, India's Men's Head Coach Scott Flemming conducted similar clinics in Nagpur.

Garcia has 20 years of club basketball coaching experience in Europe, and helped lead Team India Women to a best-ever fifth-place finish at the FIBA Asia Championship for Women in 2013.