At a time when India is witnessing lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the sporting units have taken the online route to keep the players fit and engaged in the sport.
NBA India, too, has been running online sessions under its Basketball Schools programme, with 17 school partners across the country.
Delhi’s Ramagya School, Green Fields School, Mumbai’s Jamnabai Narsee School, Ryan Global School, Rustomjee Ozone CHS and St. Stanislaus High School are some of the top schools which are participating in the programme. “With two sessions per week, the average number of participants are approximately 12-15. We also conducted online sessions with our coaches to bring them up with the new ways of training,” Marc Pulles, Basketball Operations team leader of NBA India, said in an email interaction with Sportstar .
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“Children sitting at home are constantly on the lookout for physical activity. Our online sessions serve as a perfect platform giving them a chance to brush up their skills and not lose touch with the game, all from the comfort of their homes. The drills are designed in such a way that it will keep the kids active in a fun way,” Pulles said.
‘Curriculum-based online sessions’
Following the recommendation of State and central authorities regarding the developing situation due to the coronavirus, NBA India suspended all basketball development programmes in the country, including sessions at the NBA Basketball Schools across India. “With the available flexible online learning solutions technology affords, we decided to introduce curriculum-based online basketball sessions and the initial response has been encouraging,” Pulles said.
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Working within the limitations, the sessions are focused on learning and brushing up the fundamentals of basketball. “A typical session starts with a warm-up, then some ball handling drills, form shooting work, and defensive work. We finish up with a group discussion on a basketball-related topic and end with usually assigning the participants some videos to watch and give homework to do such as form shooting and show gratitude to your parents,” Pulles said.
But how are the students responding to these sessions?
“It’s been a very exciting first few weeks and we have already conducted over 25 sessions. This is a new format for all but students have quickly adapted to it and our enrolment number is consistent across sessions and improving by the week,” he said.
Some of the students admit that the programme has helped them stay active with the sport, and they hope to learn a few more things during the time of lockdown.
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