Sambhaji Kadam, Vishesh Brughavanshi and Trideep Rai. Didn’t ring a bell? Let’s try again. Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson and Kobe Bryant? Of course, one would say, these are icons of basketball. But how many of us know that the former three are also basketball players, that too in the Indian national team. In this country, where cricket reigns supreme, most other sports have been struggling under its shadow and basketball is no exception.
But armed with a fresh, 30-year deal between the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) and IMG Reliance (a joint venture between IMG Group and Reliance Industries), basketball in India seems set to receive a new lease of life. Mahindra & Mahindra has also joined hands with the BFI and the National Basketball Association of the US (NBA) for a recreational league in India (Mahindra NBA Challenge), which promises exciting times ahead.
?I personally feel there is no second sport in the country after cricket. We want basketball to hold that second place,? says Harish Sharma, secretary-general, BFI. However, Sharma affirms that nothing has happened suddenly and that action was on behind the scenes for long. ?In 2006, we requested the NBA to come to India. Everything started at that point in time. They sent their delegations and many programmes were discussed, planned and executed jointly between us. They have collaborated on many things with us and the Mahindra NBA Challenge is a great social recreational programme involving basketball. NBA has also brought a lot of awareness programmes to India, like Basketball without Borders in 2008, where children from across Asia assembled in New Delhi. This year itself, ten coaches from India visited the John Mason University in the US and underwent training under legendary coach JD Walsh,? he says.
Troy Justice, who is overlooking the Mahindra NBA Challenge in India, feels the timing couldn’t have been better for basketball in India. ?The Indian economy has grown and sports is now one of the emerging areas. There is excitement about sports in the country; you have had a great success in the form of the IPL. Also, the basketball community in the country is large and passionate and the game is most certainly poised for success, but not many people recognise that,? he says. Justice adds that the response to the league has exceeded all expectations and that the kind of talent he is seeing in the country is truly fascinating ?We have had over 3,500 registrations with an average of 80-100 teams per city. It is reflective of the interest in the sport of basketball. We are going to add cities to the league and it will certainly expand in the years to come,? he says. The league was kickstarted this year with three cities?Mumbai, Bangalore and Ludhiana.
Akash Jain, director, international development, NBA, is excited about the potential India holds for the sport. ?We believe there is significant long-term potential for basketball in India. The initial steps required to grow the sport in India are sustainable grassroots programmes that will grow mass participation and provide coaches and players the opportunity to develop their skills,? he says. And, make no mistake, NBA is serious about expanding its involvement in Indian basketball over the next few years. ?Our presence in the country will grow in the next five years by partnering with the BFI to establish consistent grassroots programme in 10 cities, building basketball courts across communities, increasing availability of NBA branded merchandise and growing distribution of NBA content across all media platforms. In addition, we plan to open an office in India in the next few months and hire local staff to grow basketball and our business in the market,? he says.
Describing the IMG Reliance-BFI agreement as a threshold moment for basketball in India, Sharma is banking on the deal for future plans. ?It will support all basketball activities in the country for the next 30 years. That is really great support for the sport. I think Reliance has taken it as a social cause,? he says. However, he declines to comment on the deal’s worth and terms it as ‘enough for our future programmes’. ?The agreement would sponsor all our events and would also facilitate professionalisation of the sport for the players, as we are now looking to grade players and pay them accordingly. Moving ahead, we are also planning to get in coaching staff and experts from other countries to work with Indian basketball at the grassroots level,? he adds.
Andrew Wildblood, executive director, IMG Reliance, talks about the growing corporate interest in basketball. ?There is a belief that there is an appetite in India for a broader sporting menu and that basketball, which can be contained in an evening’s time-frame, fits in perfectly. Like any sporting proposition, our role in basketball will need to find favour with investors, participants and fans alike,? he says. Ruzbeh Irani, executive vice-president, corporate strategy, Mahindra & Mahindra Group, says the sport in itself is the reason for interest. ?I feel it has to do a lot with the nature of the sport. It’s an inclusive sport, a team sport and has immense potential to grow exponentially in India in the years to come. It already has quite a following in the country. Secondly, basketball, unlike cricket and football, does not require a large field or a lot of infrastructure.
Just a small court with two hoops is all you need. And still it facilitates mass participation as well as following,? he says.
So does basketball have the potential to be a profitable sports commodity in the near future? ?I would say mid as opposed to near future. The first steps required are a deliverable development structure and investment in infrastructure consistent with what will be required to deliver a high quality professional league,? says Wildblood. He adds that marketing can only come in once a development structure is in place. ?Once that structure is broadly defined, the marketing requirement will be to engage with potential participants in the sport so as to grow the athlete base and create a groundswell of grassroots interest. In parallel, we will develop plans for a new professional league, for which new infrastructure will be a requirement and therefore investment. This is a top-down, bottom-up approach and is the best way to create a sustainable sport within a viable commercial context,? he says.
While the major endeavour of the BFI and IMG Reliance is to have a world-class league within the next four years, activity towards that goal has already begun on the ground. ?We are starting a school league and a college league from this year itself, hopefully from August, if all goes according to plan. The league is to start from three cities, and every year we will keep adding more cities to the league,? says Sharma. Talking about the other major initiative, he says, ?Starting this year, eight children from the sub-junior category would be sent to the US every year to train and study at the IMG Academy in Florida. All the expenses of this programme would be borne by IMG Reliance. IMG Reliance will also set up several basketball academies for youngsters in India.? In fact, Andy Borman, the director of basketball from the IMG-Academies in Florida, was in New Delhi last week for the final screening to select the eight players out of the 50 best sub-juniors in the country at the final trials held at Sanskriti School on July 23 and 24. The chosen ones will get a full scholarship to go and complete their education at the IMG-Academies campus in Bradenton, Florida, and to graduate from school as student-athletes.
Sambhaji Kadam, the 31-year-old who plays in the Indian national team, is having mixed feelings. On one hand, he is excited for these positive developments in the sport, on the other he envies the young crop of Indian basketball players. ?Things have definitely improved over the past 10 years and it?s exciting and heartening to see how basketball now seems to be entering a new phase of professionalism and development in the country. I wish I was a junior player today. They are going to have a shot at making much better careers than we could manage,? he says.
However, India still lags behind on key attributes like infrastructure and mass following of the sport. ?The major problems are related to infrastructure and lack of a regular system in basketball. A system needs to be developed in India where the coaches get more opportunities and players get more exposure in terms of training and competitions. As of now, many of the coaches are volunteering time as they are passionate about the sport, but what we really need is complete professionalisation of coaching in the country. There are some great coaches in Indian basketball and such a system would help tap their potential,? says Justice.
Sharma adds that the media’s role would also be critical in lifting the sport in the country. ?We need a lot of infrastructure development and certainly a lot of support from the country’s media. The sport is immensely popular across schools and colleges, but we need it to be popular across age groups,? he says. Kadam concurs, ?We are working very hard for basketball as players and the BFI and others are doing their bit. All we need is support from the media. It can truly define the route the sport takes in India in the coming years.? So while the hoop is set a little high for our reach, India is looking to rise and dunk the ball in style, if all goes as planned.
