Basketball coaches' programme kicks off

Former India coach and senior director of NBA in India, Scott Flemming launched a coaches' programme at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Kochi. Dubbed 'the coaches academy' will also have sessions in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode after the Christmas holidays.

At least 300 trainers from central Kerala took part in the training programme held at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Kadavanthara, Kochi.

Every school that had send a trainer for the programme received free-of-cost 'essential equipment', including an India-specific coaching guide with curricula for in-school and after-school programmes, basketballs and cones, informed Jr. NBA.

On its fifth edition, the Kochi lege had participants from the districts of Kochi, Thrissur, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Pathanamthitta and Idukki schools.

The programme included a train-the-trainer initiative for local coaches, 5-on-5 tournaments for U12 and U14 finals in each city featuring 5-on-5 competitions, in addition to 'Skills Challenge'.

On the sidelines of the national level programme, all-star teams selected from state competition at Kerala will compete against eleven other teams at the Jr. NBA national championship. The teams are Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai Hyderabad, Kolkata, Kerala, Punjab and four other regional teams.

At the national championship, players will be selected for a training camp that will immediately follow this competition. From this camp 10 boys and 10 girls will be selected to represent JR.NBA India at the Junior NBA World Championship in Orlando.