3-day Train the Trainers basketball clinic with Troy Justice in Kochi

The Kerala Basketball Association (KBA) along with Regional Sports Center (RSC) will host Kerala's second phase of the Train the Trainers Coaching Clinic in the state over three days from June 24-26 at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Kadavanthara, Kochi. The clinic will be laed by Troy Justice, the NBA's Senior Director of International Basketball Relations. Phase 1 of the programme back in 2011 attracted over a 100 coaches.

Along with coaches, selected players of the NBA's Generation adidas programme will also attend the clinic to be trained with Justice. Additionally, Justice will also work with the Kerala State Junior Girls basketball team.

The three-day event will include introduction to NBA/FIBA resources to coaches, clinics about different type of defensive coaching options, drills for team offense, NBA/FIBA offensive sets and plays, focused drills on player development, and Q&A sessions with Justice.

The RSC has imported 25 lakh rupees worth of basketball equipment from Germany, including tempered glass backboards, international quality rings, nets, electronic score boards and other electronic material. Justice will unveil the equipment along with PI Sheik Pareeth, the Distric Collector of Ernakulum on June 24.

Mahindra NBA Challenge to tip off in Kochi for first time ever

NBA India Press Release: The Mahindra NBA Challenge, the largest, multi-city, community-based basketball league in India, is tipping off in Kochi (Kerala) for the first time ever on July 21. Conducted in collaboration with the Basketball Federation of India (BFI), the Kerala Basketball Association, Regional Sports Center Kochi and Ernakulum District Basketball Association, the programme will run for seven weeks culminating on September 2.

This year the Mahindra NBA Challenge will feature a new player development programme in each city called Generation adidas. 40 up-and-coming players from the boys and girls U13 and U16 divisions will be selected to participate in two exclusive Generation adidas clinics during the season in Kochi on August 17th and 30th. The top 8 players will be selected from the clinics and will receive one year of specialized training and adidas basketball gear.

This marks the NBA’s first programme in Kochi, showcasing the league’s commitment to growing basketball across the country. The Kochi League will feature 120 teams and games will be played at Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium. The programme has already been held in Mumbai and Delhi this season, and following the Kochi stop, will be held in Bangalore and Ludhiana. The five-city league features eight divisions total for males and females: sub-junior for ages 12 to 13, youth for ages 14 to16, junior for ages 16 to 19 and adults ages 19 and over.

For the first time, the Mahindra NBA Challenge will feature a National Championship which will take place in Delhi on October 4-7, 2012. The winning teams from the Senior and Under 18 divisions, for both Men and Women, in each city will travel to Delhi to compete for the championship and train with an NBA Legend!

The Mahindra NBA Challange programme has rapidly expanded since its introduction in 2009 with the number of teams participating doubling in season two. The programme has helped to identify and develop top basketball talent, with the Indian National Team extending training camp invites to 20 male and female players that participated in the Mahindra NBA Challenge.