With 17 partner schools across India, the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Basketball Schools is helping athletes to brush up their skills without having to step out. The NBA has started e-coaching and all that the athletes need is a basketball. The NBA Basketball Schools is a network of basketball development programmes around the world open to international players of age 6 to 18 years. Following the nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, NBA has suspended all sessions in India. However, with the online technology, they have curriculum-based online basketball sessions and Marc Pulles, Basketball Operations Team Leader, NBA India told Edexlive that the initial response has been encouraging.

Of the 24 partner schools across India, 17 of them have joined them already for two online sessions per week with average number of participants being 12 to 15. The online sessions are focussed on learning the basics of basketball starting with a warm-up followed by ball-handling drills, form shooting work and defensive work with some real-time feedback.

The coaches were also trained to conduct the online classes to train and monitor children virtually. The students are also given homework to do and some tips on how they can improve their skills. Videos of the game are also shared with them so that they can watch closely and learn.

Source: Edexlive