India national team head coaches lead workshops conducted by BFI, SAI

NEW DEHLI (India) - The Basketball Federation of India (BFI) and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) conducted online workshops for coaches across the entire country, aiming to develop the game at the grassroots level.

"In the present scenario of lockdown due to COVID-19, BFI decided to start an online education workshop for the coaches across the country," said Chander Mukhi Sharma, Secretary General of BFI. "SAI coaches were also asked to join these sessions."

The workshop sessions were hosted on Zoom by the head coaches of both the men's national team, Veselin Matic, and women's national team, Zoran Visic. The workshops were conducted daily from April 22 to May 7 except on Sundays from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM.

"The objective of this program was to start a universal fundamental coaching program at the grassroots level in India, which will further help to train the players at the same level across the country," added Sharma. 

These sessions included video clips and presentations highlighting the differences in practice sessions in India compared to other advanced countries.

Matic and Visic went into detail about what to focus on coaching and emphasized on the need to make practices fun and interesting. Among the key points included that players need to be aware of the importance of versatility, scouting, and teamwork. Shooting was also a point of emphasis and that players must take 600-700 shots during every practice session.

The participating coaches themselves were told that they would have to act as officials during practice, so they must also be very sharp about the rules in which they must educate the players further on.

Over 600 coaches from all over the country of all age groups attended these informative workshops.

"This impressive number of attendance is due to the regular interaction of the BFI with the coaches and the affiliated units regularly. The SAI, who was also a part of this program, asked their coaches to participate further increased the number of coaches," explained the Secretary General.

The workshops have been met with positive feedback from the participants, leading to an optimistic feeling about the future of basketball in India.

"The response of these workshops was overwhelming, and it got a lot of appreciation from various stakeholders," said Sharma. "The feedback of the coaches who participated in these workshops was very positive and encouraging."

"I am sure it will help the coaches to improve their skills, which will further improve the game in India."

This online initiative is yet another development activity that BFI has carried out by embracing the ways of digital and modern communication. The federation has been active on social media with a dedicated staff in place for daily promotion on the development of basketball across the country.

"I, myself, support and encourage the players to be active on social media platforms by sharing tweets, videos, motivational messages, etc.," said Sharma. "The BFI started a program to integrate all the affiliated units. They must have their own website linked with the BFI website. Last year, BFI started online registrations for all the National Championships."

Aside from the online coaching workshop, BFI has also been conducting other digital activities to keep the Indian basketball community active during the COVID-19 situation.

Through Zoom, BFI is interacting online with national team campers of all age groups to encourage them to keep working on their fitness and individual techniques by sharing with them video clips. The coaches are scrutinizing the players' fitness and conditioning videos, and the best five videos are being uploaded on the federation's social media pages.

FIBA