India’s Basketball Coach Kenny Natt appointed as Director of Basketball at IMG Academies

Former NBA Coach Kenny Natt, who has been the head coach of India’s Senior National Men’s Basketball squad or over a year now, has been appointed as the Director of Basketball the IMG Academies in Bradenton, Florida, USA. Natt will relocate to Brandenton but will continue to serve the Indian National team.

"After spending a great deal of my career within the NBA, I am thrilled to return to my early passion for youth basketball development and the ability to transform lives through the game I love," remarked Natt. "IMG Academies offers one of the most unique and engaging basketball programs I have ever come across. I am looking forward to rolling up my sleeves as a mentor to these student-athletes, while helping continue to attract and develop the best young talent from around the world."

Natt, who has 15 years of experience as NBA assistant coach to the Utah Jazz, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Sacramento Kings, spent a part of a season as the head coach of the Kings, was named the head coach of India’s basketball team last year. IMG Worldwide, in partnership with Reliance Industries, have a sponsorship deal with the Basketball Federation of India (BFI), and Natt was brought in as a marquee coaching personality to spearhead the basketball programme in India.

Over the past year, Natt has taken the Men’s squad to China for the FIBA Asia Championship and has helped to scout several more young players in the Indian national system. He has overseen national team operations and the promotion of the sport at the grassroots level in India.

Natt will expand his role within the BFI after his relocation to the IMG Academies, which is home to a number of Indian high school basketball players via IMG-Reliance, including 7-footed 16-year-old phenon Satman Singh Bhamara. The academy has student-athletes from more than 85 countries. Within his new role, Natt will oversee the growth and expansion of IMG Academies' basketball program for youth and high school student-athletes, as well as its training programs for post-graduates and professional league-bound players.

"Kenny's experience coaching at the youth level through the professional ranks will prove invaluable to our student-athletes as they look to develop into leaders in the classroom, on the court and in the community," remarked Greg Phillips, IMG Academies' Athletics Director. "We look forward to welcoming Kenny to the IMG family as our basketball program embarks on this new and exciting chapter."

Barkha Sonkar: No Fear

At first glance, Barkha Sonkar is the exact opposite of what you would expect a dominating basketball player to look like. She’s short (only five feet three inches), she’s quiet, and she’s permanently laced with a non-threatening smile that strikes no form of trepidation whatsoever in her opponents.

That is, until, she steps out on the court.

On Tuesday, the first day of the Junior National Basketball Championship at the Thyagraj Stadium in New Delhi, I watched Barkha play for the first time in over a year. That is because the 15-year-old has spent the last year as one of the eight Indian hoopsters chosen for a scholarship at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida (USA), where she is being coached to reach her incredible potential as a young basketball star. Back in India for the Summer, Barkha has spent the last few weeks at camp with the Indian Youth team at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in Delhi. When the Junior championships tipped off, she was invited by the coach of her home state – Uttar Pradesh – to represent them in the U18 tournament.

With no practice or preparation with her squad, Barkha, the youngest one in the UP U18 Girls’ side, took the helm as the team’s point guard, emotional leader, primary scorer, shot-creator, defensive-hustler, and the motor that controlled the team's offense. She finished with 24 points in a 56-48 win against Orissa.

So what keeps this motor running? Why was this unassuming little girl from Varanasi, the daughter of a humble car mechanic, chosen into an exclusive group of youngsters by the IMG Academy coaches for the scholarship? How has she become the point guard for IMG’s competitive Youth team? How did she dominate various Youth-level tournaments in America, and how does she manage to dominate a game as by far the youngest one on court back at the Junior Nationals in India?

I guess the most important question here is: At 15, and with all the odds stacked against her, how does Barkha Sonkar handle the pressure?

Barkha answers by recalling her early days as a quiet, young Indian girl, whose world was completely shaken and stirred when she was relocated from a small basti in Varanasi to the world’s finest multi-sport academy in Florida, where she had to improve her English, get good grades in school, find her way around away from home in a completely different and sometimes daunting new culture, and still fulfill her primary objective for being there: improve on the basketball court. It was a challenge at first, she said, and the confident girl who first left India a year ago came across a nervy few roadblocks in her early days at IMG.

“I used to make a lot of mistakes initially,” said Barkha, “The other Indian girls in the group (Saumya Babbar of Delhi, Kavita Akula and Pooja Ambistha of Chhattisgarh) and I were very scared.”

A sponge for constructive criticism, Barkha quickly gained confidence and began to mend her mental roadblocks. “The coaches there helped me improve my confidence,” she said, “And the Senior girls also told me to not be afraid and play my natural game. I stopped being afraid. I let the mistakes happen, and with time, the mistakes went away.”

She has improved her game dramatically in several different facets. She’s a better long-range shooter now, a more efficient passer of the ball, and a more vocal leader on the court. Add all that to her breathtakingly fast pace and ability to attack the basket, and it’s no surprise anymore that this short point guard can become a devastating weapon for any team. But it is her fearlessness that has given her the edge over so many others of her age group (and older), from inter-school tournaments in America to inter-state championships in India.

It’s a good sign of ‘handling pressure’ when someone answers that their toughest moment was also their finest: for Barkha, this moment came earlier this year with the IMG Academy Team during an U16 tournament featuring teams from several schools and other academies at New York. Barkha put up a gritty performance in this highly-competitive tournament that earned her the ‘best player’ status, even though IMG lost in the Final.

Having competed in this and in several other high-pressure situations in the US, Barkha admits that she has discovered how to play with a cool head even in the toughest of games. And with a confident, carefree, and dominant first performance at the National Championships in Delhi, Barkha showed that her young age and small size wasn’t going to stop her from leaving an indelible mark in the competition.

“Barkha is an outstanding part of this team,” said the Uttar Pradesh coach, Askan Rai, “She is a great ball-handler and leads our team. She has improved our play from all angles and raised the confidence of everyone in our team.”

It will be Barkha’s performance in the next few games where she will truly be tested. Uttar Pradesh are a relatively weaker side overall, placed in Level II in these championships. For lower-ranked sides, they have to beat more, tougher opponents to move on to the knockout phase. Orissa was an easier challenge, but UP are now set to hosts Delhi and the talented Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu sides in their next few games.

“We have a good team,” Barkha says, “It will be tough but I think we can do well. We can hope to reach at least as far as the Semi-Final stage of this championship – from there onwards, we shall see how it goes.”

After the Junior Nationals are over, Barkha will return to practice under Coach Shiba Maggon, who has been working with the Indian National Youth Probables, which will determine the team that will represent India at the 2nd FIBA Asia U16 Championship for Girls in Urumqui (China) from October 5-12, 2011. Unsurprisingly, the determined young Barkha is more than ready for an opportunity to represent India at this tournament.

From basketball tournaments in Florida and New York, and championships around India, and then competition with the best of her level in Asia, Barkha continues to boast the same confidence to help her succeed at each level. Don’t be fooled by the unassuming first impression: that same small, friendly face will one day be the future of the point guard position for India.

Giant Expectations: Satnam Singh Bhamara

It almost seems like Satnam Singh Bhamara is asking to be doubted.

When you’re a teenager from India, 15 years and one month old, already grown to the size of a 7-1 monster, the first reaction is wonder and awe, the second is doubt. People wonder what could go wrong; they wonder what the catch is. When you’re blessed with a unique inside-outside skill set, nimble feet, soft hands and a developing shooting touch, people instead wonder what your weaknesses are. When you begin training at the IMG Basketball academy, which has featured the likes of Kobe, Vince Carter, Chauncey Billups, Joakim Noah and Kevin Martin, the doubters say that it sounds too good to be true.

When you’re the son of a poor farmer in India, a boy from a village separated a long dirt road away from the rest of civilization, who picked up his first basketball less than five years ago, you’re asking for the questionable looks. When you’re the biggest basketball hope (literally and figuratively) for India — a country desperate to make a mark in the basketball world — you’re likely to receive a cynical shrug of the shoulders. “India isn’t there yet,” they say. “The kid isn’t there.”

Not yet. But he might be. If you haven’t yet heard about him, it’s time to converge your respective focuses (or foci) on Satnam Singh Bhamara, the 15-year-old, 7-1 Indian giant, currently on a scholarship at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL and attending the Pendleton High School. He is currently in the first year of a potentially four-year scholarship until he graduates from high school.

India has been slowly growing as a basketball market, and Bhamara’s potential might be a zenith of a variety of different efforts taking place to grow the game back home.

Rewind to a year ago: The 14-year-old Bhamara was already a formidable 6-11. Back then, during India’s National Basketball Championship, a yearly tournament pitting the best state teams of India against each other, Bhamara was a wide-eyed spectator, too young to participate, watching as a man-child in a man’s world.

A year later, I meet him at the same championship in New Delhi. This time, he’s back as a famous young man in the country’s basketball circles, garnering attention from other players, media and fans. He’s a spectator again, but only because he has a limited time back in India before he flies back to school in the States. A prominent Indian referee sees him and remembers: “Satnam used to help us set up the scorers’ tables last year. We had nicknamed him Chhotu (Little One). Look at him now!”

“You can still call me Chhotu!” Bhamara jokingly interjects.

But there is nothing ‘little’ about Bhamara, not in height, nor in hype. The first time I met him was back in July 2010, when Bhamara was among 50 other under-14s who were chosen by the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) to appear for IMG scholarship tryouts. IMG, a US-based international sports and media management company, have been investing heavily into sports in India. A year ago, they formed an alliance with Reliance Industries, India’s largest and richest private sector company, and the powerhouse duo of IMG-Reliance signed various sponsorship deals with Indian sports federation. Most notably, IMG-Reliance signed a 30-year agreement with the BFI to assist, finance and promote the growth of basketball in India.

One of their first steps was to choose eight Indian youngsters among the 50 best for scholarship at the IMG Academy. From the moment he walked into the tryouts in New Delhi, Bhamara was a shoo-in.

His fascinating story begins in a little village in India’s north-western state of Punjab: Ballo Ke Village, District Barnala, population 463. The son of a 7-foot farmer, Bhamara spent his early childhood helping out his father on the farm and growing up to 5-9 when he was just 10 years old. It was then that one of his father’s friends recommended that he take the tall youngster to Ludhiana, a nearby town and a major basketball hub of the country. Somewhere lost in translation, Bhamara thought that he was going to play volleyball. He didn’t know a thing about the game when he first stepped on court.

Four years and nearly 15 inches later, he had grown into one of the finest young players in the country. After blazing his way through the Punjab inter-school and junior leagues, Bhamara began to collect his international credentials. He represented India in the FIBA Asia U16 Championships at Malaysia in November 2009. Back home, he took Punjab to the gold medal of the National Youth Championships at Trichy (Tamil Nadu, in South India) in June. He was recommended by the BFI to be part of a three-player contingent of Indian youngsters sent to Singapore for NBA’s Basketball Without Borders (Asia) camp.

It was no surprise then that he was picked by IMG’s Basketball Director Andy Borman and coach Dan Barto for the scholarship. Bhamara was at the perfect age and with the perfect potential skill set, ready to be molded into a basketball monster. To play at the highest level, Bhamara cannot count successes in small Indian championships or Asian tournaments; he had to train with and compete against the best.

But more than a basketball adventure for the youngster, it has been a strange change of lifestyle, too. Bhamara and the rest of the Indian youngsters made their first trip to North America, going to school in a whole new academic system, learning hoops in a way never been taught to them before, focusing more than ever on weight training and fitness, taking extra classes to learn English (seven of the eight, including Bhamara, were virtually alien to the language), getting used to live in a residential school far away from home, and getting used to not eating their Moms’ home-cooked Indian meals.

Four months later, Bhamara makes his first visit back home — he was always built with the body shape of an ideal center, blessed with both height and muscle — but he came back looking even fitter and leaner than ever, thanks to the intense training and exercise regimen that he had gone through with his coaches at IMG. He was given a superstar’s welcome in his little village, when hundreds showed up to catch a glimpse of him coming back home.

And then he was back at the National Championship as a minor celebrity, back at the same event he had been errand-boy a year ago.

“I have changed and improved a lot over the past four months,” says Satnam, “but I want to improve even more. I want be an example for other Indian players so they can come forward and see what is necessary to be a complete player. They need to know the importance of building strength to help improve their game.”

Indian athletes, particularly the basketball players, have faced one major criticism in the past: They may have the shooting and running skills, but their athletic ability and strength leaves much more to be desired. More than basketball, the coaches at IMG have focused their early interest in making sure that Bhamara gets into shape to hang with the toughest. Bhamara has followed suit, becoming a gym rat, working on everything from exercises to help improve his forward and lateral speed, jumping ability, shoulder exercises, and lifting weights to get into tougher shape.

But his basketball training hasn’t been left behind. Bhamara notes how his current regime involves focusing on movement — a lot of movement — so that his size can be complemented with speed to make a momentum nightmare for opponents. Bhamara, who is part of IMG’s youth team, doesn’t hesitate to talk about how his improving inside game and movement has helped his team get some big results.

“My game is basketball,” he says. “The media in America has asked me why I don’t play other games, but I’m only interested in basketball. This is the game that has given me everything I have, taken me from a village to a good education in America. I love playing this game and owe everything to it. That’s why I keep working hard to improve.”

Satnam says that there are two players he looks ‘up’ to, even though both of them are shorter than him. One of them is Punjab State and Indian Senior team star Jagdeep Singh. The other, curiously, is Kobe Bryant.

You can credit (or blame) the over-Lakerisation that NBA audiences in India have been subjected to in the past. Over the last decade, most games NBA games broadcasted in India have involved either the Lakers, Celtics, Spurs and whichever franchise LeBron James shares his talents with. I ask him, Why, despite the difference in size and gameplay, does he idolize the Black Mamba? He answers, “Kobe plays like he has no problems on court; he works hard, but he dominates smoothly, with ease. That is the kind of mentality I want to have.”

And this is exactly the kind of mentality that India, and all those holding a stake for the development of basketball in India, are hoping that Bhamara develops. In an interview with an Indian newspaper a few weeks ago, Harish Sharma, the Secretary-General of the BFI, said, “He is a great prospect. I am sure he will do what Yao Ming did for China. Indian basketball will change in case one of our boys makes it to the NBA.”

And although one talented, tall, teenager alone cannot change the basketball culture in India, the NBA will be hoping that with an idol to look up to, young Indians, just like young Chinese a decade ago, will start believing in basketball. The game is never going to challenge India’s premier game, cricket, but for basketball to score even a minor percentage of the market in a 1.2 billion population will be a heavy number.

Troy Justice, who has been the director of basketball operations of the NBA in India, has been working with Indian talent for several years now, and has kept a keen eye on Bhamara’s ascension. “He is blessed with three things that, combined, have made him into a very special prospect globally — a young age, his height, and his skill set,” said Justice. “He has natural basketball instincts, a strong work ethic, and has become a focused student of the game. I have enjoyed working with him and look forward to seeing his growth as a person and player over the next few years.

“I think he has tremendous potential and a bright future in basketball.”

But Bhamara is adamant that his focus is on the present before anything else. “I’m not thinking too far ahead right now,” he says, “I’m in IMG’s youth team, so I want to play well enough to play for the juniors. After that, I will think about qualifying for the Senior team, and after that, I can think further.”

“If I get a chance to, of course I want to play in the NBA.” Bhamara adds, “If I can make it there, I will be able to do more for other Indians dreaming of making it to the NBA. But I will have no problem if it doesn’t work out. I will come back to India to play for Punjab and contribute to the Indian national basketball system.”

“Right now, I’m only concerned with improving my own game. After five years, we’ll see what happens. Right now, my priority is working on my strength — I know I’ll be playing tougher competition and have two or three players guarding me, and I have to get stronger to face that.”

Bhamara is still too young, and perhaps, still too unaware, to fully understand the implications of his rise as a basketball star. Just like China, who have gone hysterical about hoops over the past decade, India will eventually become a serious basketball market. It is a question of who and when — Yao may have been the biggest star, but he wasn’t the first Chinese to make it to the League (that honor goes to Wang Zhizhi). Bhamara’s potential improvement will determine if he can even make it to that level, much less survive once he gets there.

Right now, he’s just a 15-year-old, except that he’s blessed with a little more size, a little more talent, and a little better training support than the rest of us. He carries a load of expectations a little heavier than the rest of us, too.

So go ahead and doubt him all you want: not good enough, too much hype, too weak, too slow, too soft, too foreign. I doubt if Satnam Singh Bhamara will hear any of it: Right now, he’s just a kid addicted to hoops. And all he wants to do is get better.

Right now, he’s just a 15-year-old, except that he’s blessed with a little more size, a little more talent, and a little better training support than the rest of us. He carries a load of expectations a little heavier than the rest of us, too.

So go ahead and doubt him all you want.

This article was first published on SLAMOnline.com on January 13th, 2011.

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.

Chhattisgarh: Indian Basketball's best kept secret

The first quarter has ended. The scoreboard reads: Chhattisgarh 25, Delhi 2. As the Chhattisgarh junior girls team walk back to the bench for a break, their coach Rajesh Patel is still fuming.

You slowed down in the end,” he says, “This is a 40 minute game, and we have only played 10. We lead by 20 now, I want us to lead by 50 by the time the game's over.”

The Girls go back at it. They maintain their lead though, and by the time the final buzzer sounds, the score reads 69-48. It wasn’t a 50-point win, but the coach is happy indeed. Another day at the office for India’s most efficient basketball system.

The blowouts continue, from quarter to quarter, game to game, tournament to tournament, year to year. Here are some heady statistics: The Chhattisgarh state was formed out of Madhya Pradesh ten years ago. Ever since, Chhattisgarh girls have won nine out of the ten Sub-Junior National Championships, give out of nine youth championships (runners up three times), and seven out of nine Junior championships. By the time the talented Chhattisgarh girls reach Senior level, most of them get snagged off to play for Indian Railways (they have already taken 28 girls over the past decade).

For those who are not involved with the game in India, Chhattisgarh is basketball's best kept secret. In a state struggling to find a positive identity ever since its inception in 2001, Chhattisgarh’s Girls’ basketball programme has given its people more than enough reason for cheer.

Two words come to my mind when I watch them play, the same two that spring back up when I read about their near-perfect tournament records: ruthless efficiency.

In Vashi, where the 61st Junior National Championship is taking place, the Chhattisgarh girls, who are the defending champions, are playing up to their reputation. It’s a nightmare for opposing defenses. Wait a second too long and they’ll run down the court for a fast-break. Jump a little too early and they’ll fake and lay it up. Give them a little too much room and they’ll hit a perfect jumpshot. Sag too closely and they’ll beat you off the dribble. Opposing teams need to have a flawless defense to beat Chhattisgarh’s flawless offense. In their first four league games at Vashi, Chhattisgarh has won by 14 points against UP, 21 points against Delhi, 15 points against Karnataka, and 25 points against Andhra Pradesh. Opposing teams don’t really plan to beat them, they plan to not be embarrassed.

To those engrossed with big city lives of better infrastructure, major tournaments, brand new Nike LeBron sneakers or flashy NBA jerseys, the success of Chhattisgarh may seem like a mystery. To the untrained eye, they are, after all, a great unknown. But their ‘secret’ is as profound as it is simple: 24-7-365, Togetherness. All year round, the team stays together, plays together, studies together, eats together, and holds each other accountable.

Let this story serve as a microscope at the Chhattisgarh phenomenon. The city of Bhilai, smack in the middle of the Chhattisgarh state is known for two things: 1) the Bhilai Steel Plant, and 2) It happens to be one of the fastest growing cities (in terms of population) in the world. The Bhilai Steel Plant is the financial powerhouse behind providing infrastructure and manpower for Chhattisgarhi basketball, including four well-maintained outdoor courts. The Bhilai Engineering Corporation sponsor the state’s ‘Basketball Hostel’. At this hostel, 20 girls and 10 boys, usually from poor families, are housed all year long, where they eat, pray, and love basketball, practicing 10 hours each day, morning, evening, repeat.

And then there is their coach, Rajesh Patel. Patel is Honorary Secretary of the Chhattisgarh Basketball Association and Deputy Manager (Sports) at Billai Steel Plant, and has invested over 30 years into the game. Patel has built a well-planned system, where his scouts bring young players (around age 10-11) from deprived conditions and offer them a chance to make a living through basketball. “These are really poor kids from all around the state of Chhattisgarh,” said Patel, “Some are from tribal families. Some can't even afford to buy a pair of slippers for thier feet. Some have father’s who drive auto-rickshaws, or sell paan. We offer them the opportunity that if they are successful in basketball, they will be able to land a government job. By the time they leave, I want them to earn for themselves and be able to stand on their own two feet.”

And they don’t just stand, they stand tall. In his several decades in coaching, around 120 players that have trained under Patel have received government jobs under the sports quota. 25 players trained under him have represented the Indian Sr. National team. Till date, he has trained around 7,500 basketball players. Recently, Patel was felicitated at the FICCI sports summit for his contributions to developing grassroots basketball in India.

That is why it should be no surprise that the Chhattisgarh teams, particularly their girls, perform so well in national competitions. It should be no surprise that Patel has collected a total of 41 golds, 11 silvers, and 13 bronze medals in the four levels (Sub-Jr, Youth, Junior, and Senior) over the past decade. It should be no surprise that the Chhattisgarh girls team is dominating proceedings at this year’s Junior Nationals in Vashi. And it should certainly not be a surprise that out of the eight young Indian players chosen for the IMG Academy scholarship programme, four were from Chhattisgarh.

“These girls are hungry for success,” Patel says, “The potential for a job placement afterwards motivates them to keep trying harder.”

The Chhattisgarh Basketball Association plans their success in advance: The youngest ones are recruited to start preparing for the championships two years before they first feature in the Sub-Junior Nationals. The Sub-Junior team practices against the Youth, the Youth against the Juniors, and the Juniors against the Seniors.

Chhattisgarh has a successful boys’ team too, but the high expectations set by the girls almost keeps the boys shadowed a little bit. “See, in Chhattisgarh, we aren’t really blessed with the tallest or the biggest people,” said Patel, “Amongst the girls, you can manage to win by skill, but in the boys’ game, the physical attributes matter a lot more.”

“Also,” Patel admits, “The boys’ division is so much more competitive than the girls', so it is harder for them to win all the time.”

Meanwhile, the girls keep on winning and keep on representing the country at the highest level. The current junior girls’ team has three players who have represented India internationally at the Youth or Junior levels: captain Ranjeeta Kaur, Pushpa Nishad, and Sangeeta Mandal. All three ooze with confidence, and have used their international experience to help their squad.

“The international experience certainly helps a lot,” said Ranjeeta, “I’ve personally learnt a lot of defensive plays when facing tougher opponents, and it shows in my game at this tournament.”

“Our offense is also much stronger than other teams,” adds Ranjeeta, “We practice it throughout the year.”

Stack up all the factors above and the haze becomes clearer; the mystery demystifies. Patel admits that whenever the Chhattisgarh team plays in other states, basketball laymen and the local media don’t take them seriously, until they blink and realise a few days later that the team has become a championship contender.

You can keep away that microscope now: It should be no shock to anyone that Chhattisgarh produce India's most dominating girls' teams.

"We want to beat each team – we want to win each game in a one-sided fashion,” says Sangeeta Mandal, one of the stars of the Chhattisgarh junior girls squad, “We won’t leave this tournament without playing in the final, and then winning it.”

The secret is out. And just as ever, Chhattigarh girls' are the top contenders for the crown at Vashi, approaching their destiny just as they always have, with ruthless efficiency.

IMG-Academies basketball coach Dan Barto visits the Junior National Basketball Championship

Dan Barto, who is a coordinator and basketball coach of the IMG Basketball Academy in Bradenton (Florida), USA, is at the Fr. Agnel School in Vashi (Navi Mumbai) to observe the Junior National Basketball Championship and train basketball coaches from around India on October 27th-29th, 2010. Barto is coaching the eight Indian student-athletes who have been sent to the IMG Academy as part of a scholarship programme by IMG-Reliance.

“Earlier, I only got a chance to work with a small number of sub-junior students,” said Barto, “I’m here now to take a look at hundreds of kids, and put my eye on what types of programmes for what age group IMG can plan for the players. Seeing the 18-year-olds at the Junior Championship, I want to note how the game of Indian youngsters develops at this age, and then see what we have to work on to make sure that the current 13-14 years olds can improve to a much higher level by the time they are 18.”

The secretary-general of the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) Harish Sharma welcomed Barto to the championship, “Barto will be spending the next few days at the National Championship observing the players and helping them out wherever necessary. He will also hold a few more coaching clinics over the next few days.”

At Vashi, Barto was greeted by over 40 basketball coaches from around the country. These coaches are currently attending the 61st IMG-Reliance National Championship for Junior Boys and Girls with their teams. On Wednesday, Barto worked with the coaches and some players to demonstrate the importance of improving a player’s athletic ability through skills training, working on skills such as ball handling, finishing around the basket, ball handling and finishing combos, and corrective shooting drills.

“I am very impressed by the coaches’ strong yearning for knowledge,” Barto said.
Barto also spoke about the development of the eight Indian youngsters at the IMG Academy, noting: “For their age group, the Indian players are at par with any other basketball players we have at the Academy in terms of their coachability, discipline, and skill level. They have to work on their lower body strength now and are improving physically too.”

“At the IMG Academy, we are taking things to a higher level than 99 percent of the schools in the country. The Indian kids will can three years of physical development in six months.”

Barto is the post-graduate coordinator/coach, pro/college training coordinator, and national combine coordinator at the IMG Basketball Academy. He has trained over 100 current or former NBA players, and over 40 Division I players

IMG-Reliance is currently in partnership with the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) to help develop basketball in India. The IMG scholarships for India programme is a pioneering effort to provide young Indian players the opportunity to reach their potential by being coached at one of the finest basketball academies in the world.

Here is a video prepared by the IMG Basketball Academy of IMG Reliance Scholarship Recipients from India at training.

Junior National Championships 2010 at Vashi

43 teams from all across the country are here in Vashi (Navi Mumbai) right now for an 8-day long festival of hoops. This is the 61st edition of the IMG-Reliance National Championship for Junior Boys and Girls, and it tipped off at the Fr. Agnel Sports Complex on October 24th. 23 boys' teams and 19 girls' teams from different states and territories around the India are present. The Final of the tournament will be held on October 31st.

The championship has been organized by the Maharashtra Basketball Association under the aegis of Basketball Federation of India (BFI). Young deserving players will be selected to undergo intense training under the guidance of international coaches and facilities that are world class to help them develop their skills & game in the long run.

Rev. Alex Dais, Bishop of Andaman inaugurated the tournament.

Mr. Harish Sharma, Secretary, BFI said, “It has been our ongoing endeavor to promote basketball in India. We are certain that the Indian youth has immense potential to perform on a global stage. Championship like these help the young boy & girls showcase and develop their game. Going forward we will provided world class infrastructure & coaching facilities to all the promising players and work towards creating many such opportunities that will help us in developing basketball as a sport that is second to none.”

Commenting on the championship Mr. M. Venkatesh, Associate Secretary, Maharashtra Basketball Association said, “We are pleased to received participation in huge numbers from across the country. I believe The 61st National championship shall see fierce & exciting competition amongst teams; each and every team is ready to face on the challenge and deliver a game that will surpass the expectations of many. I am sure this championship will be a foundation stone for many young budding Basketball stars of tomorrow.

The organizers are providing the sport-court (synthetic) for the first time at the Junior National Championship. One of the coaches from the IMG-Academy, who had helped pick young Indian players for scholarship at the academy in Bradenton, Florida, will be in attendance to observe the tournament, too.

On the first day of games, the Karnataka Boys beat Kerala and Tamil Nadu Girls beat Madhya Pradesh. Girls reigning champions Chhattisgarh started off their campaigin in style, beating Uttar Pradesh 57-23, led by Shahranjeet's 24 points. Full results can be found here.

I will be brining comprehensive coverage of these championships from Vashi for both this blog and the BFI website. Also, check out the scores page at the BFI site to keep up with regular updates of results from the matches at the championship.

Basketball helps young players realise their dreams

Last week, eight young India basketball players, blessed with good fortune and backed up with hard work, finally made their way to begin their education as student athletes at the IMG Basketball Academy in Bradenton, Florida (USA). The eight were chosen as part of a scholarship programme devised by IMG-Reliance to provide budding Indian athletes with an opportunity of a lifetime to reach their potential in sport.

Hundreds of talented young sub-juniors took part in a Sub-Junior national championship last year, and 50 of the best ones were nominated by the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) to show up for IMG-Reliance's try-outs in New Delhi in August. Out of these, four boys and four girls were rewarded by being picked up as the representatives of basketball from India at the IMG Academy. This is no small achievement, because the Academy in Bradenton is considered to be the best multi-sport training facility in the world. The basketball academy itself has featured the likes of Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter, Chauncey Billups, Joakim Noah, Kevin Martin, Jrue Holiday, Earl Clark, Kyryl Natyazhko (freshman at the University of Arizona), Dwight Powell (committed to Stanford), and others in the past.

They are from different parts of the country, and have very different backgrounds, but all eight of these youngsters have one thing in common: hard work. Most of them have revealed that even at a young age, it was their addiction to keep working on basketball that elevated them to the level they have reached today. Only between the ages of 13-14, these youngsters spend hours upon hours perfecting the game of basketball every day.

Ashiv Jain, who is from Bhopal, began playing basketball four years ago, when he was only 10. "I first started playing the game when I was in school. As I was blessed with good height, I was able to master it early, but I still need to practice for several hours every day."

The 'biggest' attraction amongst the chosen few, literally, is Satnam Singh Bhamara, the 14-year-old seven footer, son of a farmer from the small Ballo Ke village in Punjab. Satnam was recruited to start playing the game at age nine to Ludhiana, and he hasn't looked back. He is now one of the best junior players in the country and his height has already brought the international media home raving about him.

"I still have many aspects to improve in my game," says Satnam, "But right now, I believe that my post/pivot skills are the strongest aspect of my game."

Incredibly, the selection of eight features four youngsters from the state of Chhattisgarh two boys and two girls all of whom who have been trained at the academy in Billai. Dinesh Kumar Mishra, who is from the south-Chhattisgarh town of Jagdalpur said, "It feels good to get an opportunity like this in something I love to do, which is, playing basketball. I am yearning to get there and do really well!"

Kavita Akula, who is from Billai, was put on to the game of basketball through her aunt, who also used to play. Now, on the brink of this incredible opportunity, Kavita has plans to do more than just play. "I want to go there and improve my English," she says, "And of course, I want to see America!"

Pooja Ambashta , from Ambikapur in Chhattisgarh, is the tallest girl in the group. "I liked basketball straight away!" she claims, "I used to watch my seniors playing in Ambikapur and joined in. When I started to improve and get good results, I was recruited to train at the hostel in Billai. That has helped improve my game a lot more."

Chhattisgarh's fourth representative doesn't originally hail from the state Sanjeev Kumar was born in Patna, Bihar, but due to lack of facilities and opportunities around him, he went out to seek another avenue to develop his game. The answer for him came in Billai, where he has been for the last two years. Although short, Sanjeev is a quick and talented player, who says that he will be looking to improve his dribbling and jumping ability with the help of the basketball coaches in IMG.

Then there is Barkha Sonkar, the daughter of a humble mechanic from Varanasi, a town that has produced many Indian basketball talents in the past. Barkha will be taking a different route towards stardom than the rest. "I really like basketball," said the determined young point guard. "I saw my seniors play this game and I wanted to follow them."

Finally, the last representative in this group is New Delhi sensation Saumya Babbar. Saumya has been showcasing her skills in recent weeks at the IMG-Reliance School Basketball League in Delhi, but the Sachdeva Public School will have to make do without her now, as she heads across the ocean and towards the USA. "I have great ambitions," she stated, "I want to help basketball in India and take the Women's team to the highest level. I also want to play for the WNBA one day."

The youngsters already have a healthy habit of practice to start with. Whereas Barkha said that she practiced over six hours daily, the players from Chhattisgarh have been going through a rigorous training of eight hours every day. Satnam hasn't taken his size for granted either, saying that he has had days where he has spent up to 10 hours on the basketball court.

Their training will have a lot more discipline and organisation at IMG, as the expert coaches will be helping the kids through the right kinds of workouts, gym exercises, a variety of new drills, physiotherapy, as well as taking dietary precautions.

We are still four or five years away from fulfilling our dream of watching a professional basketball league unfold in India. But with the hard work put in by the youngsters in America as well as the training that their peers are going to continue back home, it seems that when the league is finally launched, there will be no shortage of explosive talents to propel Indian basketball into the bright future.

Young basketball stars head to IMG Academies on scholarship programme

Eight young Indian basketball players, all between the ages of 14-15, have been chosen by IMG-Reliance and Basketball Federation of India (BFI) to go to the esteemed IMG Academies in Bradenton, Florida (USA) to continue their education on full scholarship as student-athletes. The youngsters will board their flight to USA at midnight on September 17th along with other Indian youngsters chosen for a scholarship by IMG-Reliance in sports such as football and tennis.

The youngsters will be accompanied to the USA by experienced football coach Bipan Singh

After 50 of the most talented sub-junior basketball players took part in a try-out programme organised by the IMG coaches, four boys and four girls were chosen based on their potential to head to the IMG Academies this year. The eight youngsters will study at the Templeton School in Bradenton and train at the IMG Basketball Academy. They have been accepted to complete their education until Grade 12 from the school and will be re-evaluated in their academic and athletic progress at the end of each year.

The eight youngsters are:

Ashiv Jain (Madhya Pradesh)
Barkha Sonkar (Uttar Pradesh)
Dinesh Kumar Mishra (Chhatisgarh)
Kavita Akula (Chhatisgarh)
Pooja Ambastha Chhatisgarh)
Sanjeev Kumar (Chhatisgarh)
Satnam Singh Bhamara (Punjab)
Soumya Babbar (Delhi)

Harish Sharma, the secretary-general of the BFI, congratulated the players before they left for Florida, and added, "Thanks to IMG and Reliance, these children are going to be presented with an incredible opportunity with a scholarship at the IMG Academy in Florida. This programme will open a new world of experiences for them in America as they study and train at the best multisport academy in the world."

"We are looking forward to them to return to India as basketball stars and influence the level of our game here," said Sharma.

Satnam Singh: Larger than Life

The first thing I notice is his shoes. Size 22, made of some obscure shoe brand that I haven't heard of. That is the first thing I ask him, too, and he confirms to me that they are custom made. "Straight from Amreeka!" he says. He confirms that he has another, better pair coming his way. Sure enough, the next time I meet him, he is sporting a pair of black Nikes. Size 22.

I shake his hand and watch my fingers disappear behind his monstrously large grasp. When we disengage, I'm relieved to have my hand back unharmed. It seems that Satnam, still only 14, has learnt to exert minimal pressure during introductory handshakes, because a casual clasp by him could mean certain broken bones for us mere average-sized mortals.

Meet the Satnam Singh Bhamara of the Past: a village boy, a son of a farmer and carpenter from the middle of nowhere in Punjab. His home address has no house number, just a family name and the name of their village,'Ballo Ke'. "District Barnala," he adds, and then he says a few other things in Punjabi so thick that I had to occasionally call on a translator (and I call myself a Punjabi - tssh!). I'm not ashamed though, because even a pucca Punjabi would be confused with his thick accent; his words come out muffled, half-eaten on their way out of his giant mouth.

Until the age of 10, Satnam was just an average youngster who attended a village school and brought refreshments to his father who was hard at work at the farm.

Well, not completely average: Mr. Bhamara Senior stood an imposing 7 foot 2 inches; his 10-year-old son, who seemed to be following in his father's giant footsteps, was already 5 foot 9 and a big, broad, beast of a pre-adolescent. Satnam had never even heard of this game called 'basketball'; not until one of this father's friends saw him and recommended that he take the boy to Ludhiana and teach him the game.

Satnam only needed a few years of work before his coaches realised that there was more to his skill than his size. He was soon a natural, and like every young player, still fondly remembers his first dunk (age 13). He grew a ridiculous 15 inches in four years, and after blazing his way through all the sub-junior competitions, he forced his way into the Youth (U16) team.

Meet the Satnam Singh Bhamara of the Present: still four months shy of his 15th birthday, Satnam now stands 7 feet tall. He's already made a name for himself in the Indian basketball circles across the country. After blazing his way through the Punjab inter-school and junior leagues, Satnam began to collect his international credentials. He represented Indian in the FIBA Asia U16 Championships at Malaysia in November 2009. Back home, he took Punjab to the gold medal of the National Youth Championships at Trichy (Tamil Nadu) in June.

There was no more doubt it - the son of a farmer, who would've had a hard time pronouncing 'basketball' four years ago, had become the country's best young player. Satnam's success led him to be recommended by the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) to be part of a three-player contingent of Indian youngsters sent to Singapore for the NBA's Basketball Without Borders (BWB) Asia camp, which featured 44 junior boys from 19 different countries in Asia and Oceania.

And then came the biggest step yet - barely returned from his BWB experience, Satnam was again nominated amongst 50 of the country's best sub-junior players to take part in a tryout for the IMG Basketball Academies in Florida, USA. Sponsored by IMG-Reliance, expert coaches from IMG descended down to Delhi to watch the Indian youngsters slog it out for two tough days in late July. Only eight of the 50 were to be chosen. Satnam was taller, stronger, bigger than the rest.

When the final list was released, not one was surprised to see Satnam's name amongst the eight. Dan Barto, who is a basketball coach and athletic trainer from IMG, admitted that the youngster was an "intriguing" prospect. By the end of the August, Satnam will be taking his talents to Bradenton, Florida, where he has been fully sponsored to stay as a student-athlete at the IMG Academy, perhaps the best multi-sport training facility in the world. The Basketball Academy at IMG has featured the likes of Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter, Chauncey Billups, Joakim Noah, Kevin Martin, Jrue Holiday, Earl Clark, Kyryl Natyazhko (freshman at the University of Arizona), Dwight Powell (committed to Stanford), and others.

His world about to turn upside down, Satnam seemed surprisingly bindaas about things. He had a childish exuberance about him, and then I remembered that's because he is still only a child!

I ask Satnam if he follows the NBA.

"Yes," he answers.

"Which is your favourite team?"

Satnam looks a little embarrassed. "I don't know, whichever team Kobe Bryant plays for."

"Oh - Lakers," I laugh, "But shouldn't you like a player closer to your size. A centre. Kobe Bryant must look small to you."

I shudder as I say that. If Kobe friggin 6 foot 6 Bryant is small compared to him, I'm closer to being a Leprechaun.

"What about Shaq?" I ask.

"Oh, ya, Shaq!" his eyes light up - Shaq seems to have that effect on people - "I like Shaq! And that other guy who is coming here - what's his name?"

"Dwight Howard," I tell him.

"Yes, Dwight Howard. I want to meet him."

I remind Satnam that he's bigger than Dwight, too. He may not garner the same kind of attention that 'Superman' did during his visit to India, but Satnam has his own little celebrity legend. He gushes and tells me how strangers ask him for autographs and ask to touch him. He tells stories of how he has to struggle and fit on a bus seat from Delhi to Ludhiana, and how people on the bus line up to photographs snapped next to him.

But despite his growing popularity, the young man-child has managed to remain humble. Credit his farm upbringing, the advice of his many coaches, and the fact that a committed basketball player rarely has time to concern himself with other things. In Satnam, India has been blessed with a hell of a committed player.

"I'm very fond of this game," Satnam says, "It was given me so much, and I want to continue improving."

Before he took claim to the giant centre position on the floor, Satnam was initially trained to play as a forward. His early training shows - he is an efficient shooter from the three-point range and says that his strongest feature is probably his ability to drive the ball in. With size came the evolution of polishing his post-up game and making him devastating on the defensive end of the floor as a rebounder and a shot-blocker. Few brave souls would dare run full speed into this giant brick wall guarding the basket.

"I still have to improve my dribbling though," he concedes.

More than any one specific thing, I believe what Satnam needs is experience playing games at the highest possible level for his age, and this is where his stint with the IMG Academy will be nothing short of life-changing.

So what will we see in the Satnam Singh Bhamara of the future? If all goes as scripted, he has the potential of becoming one of the finest Indian players of this generation, if not one of our brightest prospects ever. Alas, few scripts in real life have this kind of filmy ending - in Satnam's case, each Indian fan will be hoping for the holy grail of basketball for him.

"NBA... That is my dream," Satnam admits, "I want to play in the NBA."

He has ambitious dreams, but the NBA is the toughest of all basketball nuts to crack - time will tell if he will ever become good enough to ever play there. Fortunately for Satnam, all the signs are pointing the right way. His greatest assessment came out of a man who knows a thing or two about basketball talents. Troy Justice, the NBA's Director of Basketball Operations in India, worked with Troy and the rest of the Youth team at Ludhiana a few weeks ago. "If I could, I would work with this kid every day," Troy said, "He can be the chosen one for basketball in India."

Those size 22 feet have come a long way from the village to the basketball court to one of the world's greatest academies. Now, Satnam Singh Bhamara has the opportunity to do something a giant of his size rarely has the opportunity to do - look up, even above himself, and dream!

IMG Academy selects basketball players for scholarship

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After spending two days holding camps with 50 of the most talented sub-junior players in the country, coaches from the IMG Basketball Academy have announced the names of eight youngsters who have qualifed to join the academy in Bradenton in Florida, USA as full time scholars.

The players selected are (in no particular order):

Girls:

Pooja Ambistha (Chhattisgarh)
A. Kavita (Chhattisgarh)
Soumya Babbar (Delhi)
Barkha Sonkar (Uttar Pradesh)

Boys:

Sanjeev Kumar (Chhattisgarh)
Satnam Singh (Punjab)
Dinesh Mishra (Chhattisgarh)
Ashiv Jain (Madhya Pradesh)

All the selected eight are currently at camp in Bhopal.

BFI anticipates that the children will leave India on August 28th, in time for the start of the academic semester at the IMG Academy on September 1st. The children will be accompanied on the trip by Ravishankar Pathanjali as chaperone. As a former tennis player himself, who went to college in the US, Pathanjali is well suited to this role. He will be supported by the full network of world class coaching and pastoral staff at the Academies.

All travel, accommodation and tuition costs will be borne by IMG Reliance. BFI will now start the process of informing the parents and organising travel and other required information.

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Moulding the stars of tomorrow

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IMG-Academy coaches train with talented youngsters


Seated amongst the anxious and excited parents of 50 sub-junior basketball players a few days ago, Andy Borman, the director of Basketball from the IMG-Academies in Florida (USA), warned, "We are going to really make them work. Make them work hard."

Two days later, after hours of practice, litres of sweat, and miles upon miles run by squeaky sneakers across the Sanskriti School basketball court, the young athletes knew exactly what Borman meant. They were pushed harder than ever by Borman and his colleague, professional trainer and coach Dan Barto, their conditioning tested, and their skills examined.

And now, all that is left is for the IMG Academy coaches to choose eight youngsters amongst the 50, who will get the enviable opportunity to get a full scholarship to go and complete their education at the IMG-Academies campus in Bradenton, Florida, and to graduate from school as student-athletes.

"This is a great and memorable step in the history of Indian basketball," said Harish Sharma, the secretary-general of the BFI, "With the IMG-Reliance now set to work with the BFI for the next 30 years, we will project these first set of youngsters as the faces of the future professional basketball league, which we are hoping will be launched in India within four years."

These are exciting times indeed for basketball in the country. And exciting times for the sub-junior players, most of them still hovering around the age of 14. But once on the court, the jitters ended, the nervousness faded away, and the players had their game-face on, ready to compete for the final eight.

The youngsters, hailing from 14 different states in the country, were shortlisted as per their performance from the from the Sub Junior National Championship held in January at Chittorgarh, Rajasthan. They included of 25 boys and 25 girls. After registration on Thursday, the girls were first to get a taste of the hoop action on Friday (23rd) morning at the Sanskriti School in New Delhi. After warm-up, the girls started the session with basic athletic evaluation work with Borman, Barto, and Indian coaches. They moved on to do drills on their technical and fundamental basketball skills, before being divided into five teams to play quick-fire four minute games against each other.

One of the best performers in the games was 14-year-old guard from Chhattisgarh, Saranjeet Kaur. "The teaching style of the IMG coaches is great, it's very different," said Saranjeet, "This is the first time that any of us are taking part in a programme like this - I hope to keep trying hard so I can be selected!"

Saranjeet did indeed play her role as a successful floor general in the games, being vocal both on the offensive and defensive ends of the. She hounded the ball defensively, and was involved with everything good her team did on attack - her prettiest move came when she slid off a screen and scored a little tear-drop from the top of the key.

The boys followed the same schedule with the coaches after lunch, and at the end of an eventful first day, both the trainers and the students of the game were hungry for more.

Things got a lot more technical on Saturday - the girls preceded the boys in a similar schedule, but this time, the warm-ups, stretching, and skill evaluations were more advanced. Before the boys took centre-stage, the IMG coaches also welcomed 30 Indian coaches who came to observe the drills and ask questions. One of the first points that Barto stressed that the sessions will pay priority to the importance of the kids' physical training and conditioning.

"These aren't exactly new drills, but the IMG coaches are using new ways to implement them," felt NS Rathod, who has been a basketball coach for over 30 years and currently coaches at a private school in New Delhi, "They have correlated warm-up and drills together for ball handling exercises to be more efficient. In basketball, conditioning is absolutely necessary to cope with the speed and stamina needed for the game."

Several of the boys continued to stand out, including Satnam Singh, the seven foot giant from Punjab, who commanded all of the attention on and off the court. Satnam is a few years older than most of the other kids in the programme, but his explosive talent made his attendance essential for this opportunity. He earlier was one amongst three Indian youngsters to have attended the NBA's Basketball Without Borders - Asia programme at Singapore earlier this month.

The IMG Academies are the finest multi-sport training facility in the world, with alumni including NBA players such as Renaldo Balkman and Michael Beasley. Other stars who have trained at the academy include Kobe Bryant, Chauncey Billups, Vince Carter, Loul Deng, Al Harrington, Brendan Haywood, Kevin Martin, and Tayshaun Prince, and Joakim Noah.

Their motto is 'Rise to the next level' - and Barto believes that he can help the chosen youngsters from India to do so. "The kids here need to get a true understanding of their lower body conditioning," Barto said, "If they are able to get the connection of speed, movement, and conditioning right, they can really elevate their game to 'the next level'."

He commented that there are still many things that the kids could improve on, including their precision on outside shooting. But Barto did find positives in the youngsters' aggression and ability to make an attacking finish around the basket.

"I have worked very hard to get here, and would love to be selected and join the Academy," said Yogesh Kanderia (13) from Jaipur, "The style of coaching was good and we have really enjoyed training here."

Once Borman, Barto, and others make their decision, eight of the youngsters will be invited to join the Academy, starting their school year from the end of August. But there are positives for the others, too, because a major part of the IMG-Reliance (IMGR) union with the BFI includes setting up several basketball academies for youngsters in India. In addition, IMG Basketball Academy will continue to recruit young players from India in a similar programme every year.

Basketball is India is poised to explode exponentially, and the scholarship selection for the first batch of young stars is an important early step in shaping the talent that will form our future leagues.

Read this article on the official website of Basketball Federation of India

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