Hoopdarshan Episode 22: Coach JD Walsh observes the ascent of Indian Basketball

In 2007, after coaching around the world from the USA to China and Europe, JD Walsh descended to India. Walsh's "JDBasketball" movement spread quickly to all corners of the country, influencing thousands of Indian players and coaches. On Episode 22 of the Hoopdarshan podcast, Walsh joins hosts Kaushik Lakshman and Karan Madhok to talk about the past, present, and future of Indian Basketball, the state of his hometown New York Knicks, and the Pandavs starting 5 from The Mahabharat.

JD Walsh is an American basketball coach who graduated and played for the University of Maryland before coaching everywhere from High School and professional training in the USA to worldwide camps, clubs, and work with national teams in eight countries on three continents. He has received funding from the US Dept. of State as a 'sports diplomat', has worked with several NGOs, and has taken coaching clinics of Indian coaches to train them in the US at the George Mason University. He's now based between New York and DC. Over 15,000 participants have been involved in the JDBasketball school around the world. In India, Walsh has worked in all four corners of the country, conducting over 75 camps in cities such as Srinagar, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Midnapore, Mumbai, New Delhi, Pune, Patiala, and Trivandrum for over 5,000 Indian youth. He's currently based in New York.



Hoopdarshan aims to be the true voice of Indian basketball, and since we're such hopeless fans of the game, it will become the voice of everything basketball related we love, from the NBA to international hoops, too. On every episode of Hoopdarshan, we will be inviting a special guest to interview or chat to about a variety of topics. With expert insight from some of the brightest and most-involved people in the world of Indian basketball, we hope to bring this conversation to a many more interested fans, players, and followers of the game.

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Click 'n roll: Finding photographic bliss in Desi Basketball

If you were an attendee in any of the major national basketball championships across India, it's likely that you may have run across Cathy Scholl. And from Chennai and Mumbai to Ludhiana and Delhi, if you hadn't seen her in person, you would have surely found her online. You would've seen her wonderful photographs capturing an entire mosaic of emotions in Indian hoops in a single, static image. You would've been introduced to her work via social media. You would've seen banners of Indian players in actions at major stadiums in the country, and even if you didn't recognize the photographer, you would've surely known the photograph.

Since visiting and photographing the 2011 Indian national basketball championship in Chennai, Scholl has visited various hoops events across the country and introduced some much-needed professionalism and quality into the photography of the sport. Her work was also recently featured in TIME Magazine's photo-essay on the rise of Indian basketball. In India, Scholl's photographs have been used as banners at the Guru Nanak Stadium in Ludhiana to showcase the success of the Punjab home team. On social media, she continues to promote more of her work through her 'Desi Hoops' page, filling in a much-needed void of consistent photography work in the game.

Born in Wisconsin, USA, it was a strange and extraordinary journey that eventually landed the former talent manager to India. Scholl's passions for dance and music introduced her to Indian arts and culture, and it was her interest in Indian spirituality that served her first visit to the country. Inspired by HWL Poonja, Scholl visited India for the first time to Lucknow. And then, the visits never stopped, as for the next two decades she continued to take trips to India, usually staying at Ramana Maharshi's ashram in Tiruvannamalai. "Although I was sitting with eyes closed in mountain caves and meditation halls my childhood interest in photography was rekindled by the gorgeous colors of the women devotees' saris," she said.

India - with its myriad of colours, cultures, topographies, religions, and the diversity of people - is a photographer's paradise. But it took a different kind of inspiration for Scholl to zone in to the Indian basketball world. Back in California, she learnt about the story of the SEEDS Academy in Senegal, an institution to help the best young basketball players in the country. Scholl wanted to explore similar basketball programmes in India, and her research opened her doors to the JDBasketball Academy and a world of desi hoops through this Hoopistani blog. During a visit to an ashram in Tiruvannamalai, she decided to also head out to Chennai nearby to experience the Senior Nationals three years ago.

"When I walked into the stadium in Chennai I was instantly hooked," said Scholl, "I saw the passion of the players and the potential for growth of the sport. I love stories about globalization and cultural identity and this has both...an American sport mixed with the culture of India."

Ever since that first 'hook', Scholl hasn't let go, and basketball in India has taken her to several places and opened her eyes to many interesting experiences. Scholl particularly recalls her experiences of meeting and photographing the legendary coach S. Subramanian of the Ludhiana Basketball Academy not long before his death.

"I was happy to have met legendary coach Dr. S. Subramanian several times," she said, "In Ludhiana, I suggested we take a photo of him with all of his students, past and present. We were never able to get everyone together in one place but I was very happy to have photographed him with Satnam Singh Bharama and some of his (at the time current) students in Ludhiana."

Also in Ludhiana, Scholl recalled her surprise when she saw one of her Punjab championship photographs proudly displayed at the Guru Nanak Stadium in the city. "When I walked into the Stadium I was shocked to see my photograph from Chennai of the victorious Punjab team hanging as a giant banner next to photos of former champions. I immediately felt right at home with my picture hanging on the wall. It also confirmed that there was a need for my work and that I was helping to record Indian basketball history."

In her time, Scholl has been able to cultivate several close bonds with the basketball community in India, and says that her dream is to eventually use her background as a talent agent to get India's top players the representation they deserve, something that is sorely lacking in the nation right now. For the last few years, she has met several sports agents in India, and although none were representing basketball players, there were many who showed interest. Once the Indian professional basketball league begins, she believes that the opportunities for representation of Indian players will present themselves, and Scholl hopes to be involved in the process, too.

Indian basketball has grown steadily since Scholl first decided to explore it. Since then, there has been more professionalism in Indian national events, better results for the national teams, the launch of revamped school and college leagues, and the hopes of a future pro league. With a camera in her hand and with the hopes to catch the revolution one frame at a time, Scholl remains optimistic for the future.

"For the future, I feel a combination of excitement and frustration, just like everyone else," she said, "But I think that ultimately it will all happen... There will be a Professional league, an Indian NBA player, the level of play will rise, and many Indian players will be attending high school and college in America similar to my African friends. It's just a question of when. I hope it all happens sooner rather than later, especially so that the current players can receive some of the financial benefits that are sure to come."

"I hope to be there for all the exciting changes on the horizon," Scholl added, "I want to photograph the first game of the Pro League. I want to photograph the first Indian NBA player. I hope to see and photograph it all!"

All images above provided for this article are from Cathy Scholl's collection of Desi Hoops photography around India, used with her permission. You can check out more of her work on her website http://cathyscholl.com/ or her Facebook page Desi Hoops-Indian Basketball photography by Cathy Scholl.

SDAT Clinic in Chennai with JD Walsh

A lot has changed in basketball in India over the last three years, from the new massive IMG-Reliance sponsorship deal to the NBA expanding its operations in the country. But throughout the highs and lows of the development of the game in India over this period, the one constant has been the persistent efforts of American basketball coach JD Walsh in bringing India to the world of basketball... And bringing the world of basketball closer to India!

Over the past week, Walsh completed another crucial four-day clinic in Chennai at the SDAT Stadium from February 2-5. Walsh worked with about 75 youngsters in three different groups: U18 Girls, Boys from all over the state of Tamil Nadu, and a local boys' college team.

"I have been coming to Chennai a couple of times every year for a long time now," said Walsh, "I think the city has a very organised sports culture, especially ingrained in basketball. They have done well in organising events for the whole state of Tamil Nadu. There is a sense of professionalism there, and I'm sure Tamil Nadu's efforts in improving its basketball will continue to show results on the national level."

One of the highlights of the camp was the work that Walsh did with many Tamil Nadu coaches on concepts such as offensive and defensive strategies and helping developing players with their post game.

Walsh contacted Don Casey, former New Jersey Nets, Los Angeles Clippers, and Temple (college) basketball coach from the USA over Skype. Casey spoke to the coaches about zone defense and answered their questions. Walsh said: "The Tamil Nadu coaches are very knowledgeable. They were excited about this opportunity and receptive to Casey."

"These are small things necessary to make a difference for basketball in India," Walsh added, "I think we are finally beginning to turn a corner and change is coming to the game here."

Nike Basketball sponsored Walsh's clinic with gear for the coaches.

JD Walsh is the founder of the JDBasketball School, a global enterprise with a mission to each the fundamentals of basketball to youngsters around the world.

Diwali, the JDBASKETBALL way

So Diwali is just about 15 days away, and like every year, you can expect the following things:

1) Fireworks keeping you up until the wee hours of the morning.
2) Fireworks giving your pet nightmares that go on at least until Holi.
3) A laddu/gulab-jamun/barfi/any other Indian sweet overdose.
4) Decorated houses shining proudly all night.
5) Basketball... Much basketball...

That's right, because this Diwali, Delhi hoopers will be getting a special gift: American basketball coach JD Walsh will bring back the JDBASKETBALL clinic to the city to hold a Diwali Vacation Camp on November 6-7 at the American Embassy School (AES) in New Delhi.

The camp will be open to kids in Elementary, Junior High School, High School, and University level, and training for the students will be separated by age and ability.

Email info@jdbasketball.com for more information. Each session of the camp will be limited to 30 participants.

Over the past three years, JDBASKETBALL has operated over 100 clinics in 12 cities to over 5,000 youth throughout India.

I'm guessing there will be no fireworks allowed on court. Except for metaphorical ones.

Indian Coaches to be trained at GMU

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With the recently announced IMG Reliance partnership with the BFI, India seems to be taking some positive strides in developing basketball facilities, infrastructure, and player development, but even the best players will be lost without the right direction. With this in mind, the BFI has also collaborated with jdBasketball and the George Mason University(GMU) to welcome 10 Indian coaches to Vermont, USA, for intense training courses, from July 2-12.

American basketball coaches JD Walsh, Craig Esherick, and Bob Baker have visited Indian in November 2009 and April 2010 to hold coaching clinics and camps for players and coaches. Now, Walsh (who has been at the forefront of promoting basketball training in India for over three years now), Esherick (former head coach of Georgetown University), and Baker (Head of Sports Management at GMU) are set to go through on and off court training that will include discussions of coaching philosophy, nutrition, strategy as well as marketing and organization.

The list of coaches, selected by the BFI, are some of the biggest names in Indian basketball, many of whom are past or present coaches of junior and senior national teams and have represented India as players in the past.

The coaches invited are:

Abdul Hamid Khan.
Aparna Ghosh
Bijender Hooda
Prasanna Jayasankar
Rajesh Patel
Rajinder Singh
Ram Kumar
Shiba. Maggon
Divya Singh
Gour Raghavendra Singh
Yuvika Sharma
Vinod Vacahni

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Milestones in Indian Basketball

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So, I was going through the April 2010 edition of All Sports Magazine (Volume 4, Number 1), which was doing their 3rd anniversary special issue, and the cover feature was 101 Milestones in Indian Sports. The story was about a 101 events that represented the "good, bad, and ugly" development in Indian Sports.

Now here's the travesty... Amongst these 101, the events (justifiably) mentioned were from the following variety of sports: Cricket, Field Hockey, Football, Shooting, Chess, Billiards, Badminton, Tennis, Track & Field, Wrestling, Mountaineering, Swimming, Golf, Volleyball, Snooker, Cycling, Weightlifting, Boxing, Table-Tennis, and Formula One Racing.

Look at that list again, and if you're a basketball fan, shake your head in dissapointment. There hasn't been a basketball milestone (good or bad) in our sporting history memorable enough to be mentioned in this vast list? Unfortunately, I can't even argue against their decision to omit Indian hoops, because tragic as it may sound, the reality is that there have been no singular events in basketball here to top the other milestones mentioned by the magazine.

So, instead, I've decided to make my own, very short list of Milestones in Indian Basketball. Feel free to add any major events that I may have missed.

The rules of Basketball were first devised in 1891 by the Canadian physician Dr. James Naismith. India were actually one of the earliest countries to adopt the game and start playing it in 1930.

1930: Basketball first played in India.
1934: The first Indian National Championship for men is held in New Delhi.
1936: The Indian National Team (The Young Cagers) become a member of FIBA.
1950: The Basketball Federation of India (BFI) is formed.
1975: The Men's National team finished fourth in the FIBA Asia Championship in Bangkok, the highest finish for India in the men's division.
1980: The Men's National team participated in the Moscow Olympics but finished last in the tournament.
1981: The FIBA Asia Championship was held in Calcutta, India finished fifth.
2007: The JDBasketball School begins to promote and teach basketball around India.
2008: NBA legend Robert Parish comes to India, ushering a flurry of activity of the NBA's interest in the country.
2009: NBA inaugurates basketball courts in India and launches the NBA-India website.
2009: The FIBA Asia Championship for Women was held in Chennai, India finished 6th.
2010: The Mahindra-NBA Challenge begins in Mumbai.

Early on, with basketball growing at such a quick pace in India, the game produced several notable talents. Many basketball stars in India have since been awarded the Arjuna Award (to recognize the contribution of a player and his outstanding achievement in sports) and the Dhyan Chand Award (for Life Time Achievement in Sports and Games has been instituted from the year 2002 to honour those sportspersons who have contributed to sports by their performance and continue to contribute to promotion of sports even after their retirement from active sporting career).

Arjuna Award

SARABJIT SINGH (Services) - 1961
KHUSHI RAM (Services) - 1967
GURDIAL SINGH (Services) - 1968
HARI DUTT (Services) - 1969
ABBAS MOONTASIR (Maharashtra & Railways) - 1970
MANMOHAN SINGH (Punjab & Services) - 1971
SURINDER K. KATARIA (Rajasthan & Railways) - 1973
ANIL PUNJ (Punjab) - 1974
HANUMAN SINGH (Rajasthan & Railways) - 1975
VIJAYRAGHVAN (Tamil Nadu & Bihar) - 1977
OM PRAKASH (Sr.) (Services) - 1979
AJMER SINGH (Rajasthan & Railways) - 1981
RADHEY SHYAM (Services) - 1982
SUMAN SHARMA (Punjab) - 1983
SAJJAN SINGH CHEEMA (Punjab) - 1999
PARMINDER SINGH (Sr.) (Punjab) - 2001

Dhyan Chand Award

APARNA GHOSH (West Bengal & Railways) - 2001
RAM KUMAR (Railways) - 2002

Unfortunately, our domestic successes and interest has never translated into international recognition. From the late 60s and early 80s, there were many talented ball players that featured in the Indian hoops scene.

There is only one woman on the Arjuna awards list - Suman Sharma in 1983. With our women's team showing drastic improvements in recent years, there is no doubt that many more female players will be given this distinction in the future.

The newly-launched Mastan League, India's first fully professional basketball league, which is currently taking place at the Mastan YMCA in Mumbai, has the promise to usher bigger events for Indian basketball. I wonder if it will also be remembered as a major milestone in the future...

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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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jdBasketball returns to India

Basketball school jdBasketball, run by coach and entrepreneur JD Walsh, is returning to India next month. As part of a programme sponsored by the US Department of State, jdBasketball will host training camps in Chennai, Bangalore, and Mumbai.

Additionally, jdBasketball will be partnered by the Centre of Sports Management of the George Mason University, where the basketball programme is overseen by assistant professor of sport management Craig Esherick (former assistant basketball coach and scout for the 1988 U.S. Men's Olympic basketball team).

These are the tentative plans for the tour:

Chennai: April 7-10, with the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu.
Bangalore: April 10-15, Men's National Team training.
Mumbai: April 16-18, jdBasketball camp and clinic.