Basketball coaches shoot from Spain to India
Rural Development Trust (RDT) makes further headway towards encouraging and expanding the existing culture of sport among local basketball enthusiasts by inviting Spanish basketball clubs to organize a camp through Anantapur Sports Academy’s (ASA) multi-sport program.
Observing the apparent growth of basketball among Indian youth, RDT programme director Moncho Ferrer was very keen to introduce the sport in Anantapur, through ASA. He expressed this desire to Sant Cugat Esport FC (SCEFC) manager, Jaume Garcia, who has been visiting Anantapur since 2013 to organise annual football coaching camps with ASA.
This was a tremendous opportunity for Unió Esportiva Sant Cugat (UESC) who were looking to collaborate with RDT in India and provide the children of rural Anantapur with an opportunity to participate and grow with sport; particularly basketball. UESC came together with QBasket Sant Cugat (QBSC) to organise the basketball camp this year. They did so coming alongside SCEFC, who are organising their own annual camp for football.
A team of 12 male and two female coaches from UESC and QBSC came down to conduct this camp for about 220 children. The main objective of the camp is to introduce basketball to younger children from rural Anantapur and also to encourage existing basketball playing youngsters.
The idea has been to keep sessions fun with maximum involvement to keep everyone interested. These coaches looked to make basketball fun and enjoyable while being attentive enough to learn and experience the Indian culture. A lot of the coaches believe Indian culture, children and their learning is very different from others around the world. Therefore, it was challenging but very educative for the coaches as well.
The initial sessions saw these rural children conducive to the atmosphere created. The coaches realised that and focussed on promoting social growth opportunities for these children by teaching them to enjoy the company of others, making friends and building bonds with their peers. This would help these children develop the self-confidence and promote team work alongside learning values like respect, and self-improvisation to promote their holistic development. The coaches believe sport is the greatest tool to aid development among children and every sport teaches similar values, where the only thing is the actual physical activity that varies.
Additionally the coaches conducted sessions for many more local children while visiting the remote villages of Anantapur to promote the game and generate awareness about the importance of physical activity among them. They also met local associations, coaches and physical education (PE) teachers, who they hope to educate and better equip to continue the work of promoting the sport till the next camp.
Oriol Antras Marti, the UESC coordinator for the duration of this camp, shared that “We are very glad to associate ourselves with RDT to organize this camp. SCEFC is here for their fourth camp. They have established a structure for football, and a strong bond with the children and associated personnel. This helped them grow the game of football greatly over just four years. We hope to follow their lead, establish a similar structure and emulate them to try and grow basketball in Anantapur.”
[This article has been edited by the Operating Team]
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