Gordon seeks expansion after successful clinic
Published:Sunday | December 25, 2022 | 1:39 AMOrane Buchanan - Staff Reporter
PRESIDENT OF the Jamaica Basketball Association Paulton Gordon has hailed a two-week-long coaching clinic held in Jamaica, a first of its kind in the Western Hemisphere, as a success and believes it is the first step in getting the country up to speed with international basketball coaching standards.
“It was both important and beneficial because what has happened, in recent times, is that the World Association of Basketball Coaches (WABC), which is now a full affiliate body of FIBA (International Basketball Federation), has revamped the entire coaching mechanism globally, so we had to be part of what is happening there. Luckily, we were able to get 22 coaches as part of this official training session, even though it was difficult to get an instructor here, but we were able to pull that off; so certainly, we think it was beneficial for our basketball going forward.” said Gordon.
The course, conducted by experienced FIBA instructor Nelson Isley, is believed to have left a mark on the minds of the participating local coaches.
PRACTICALLY RELEVANT
According to Gordon, plans are already in place to make sure what took place at the clinic is made practically relevant.
“We are trying to expand our grass-roots primary programme to get more kids involved, from age four or five to age 11. We’ve identified that as a gap in our development, as a lot of our kids are starting basketball too late; therefore, these coaches will be assigned to specific areas across the island,” said Gordon.
According to Gordon, having better coaches in the country could mean a higher standard of basketball; and the coaches who were part of the clinic will drive that improved standard of play.
“We wanted to ensure that this set of coaches, who are some of our better coaches across the island, are involved in this programme, so that we can get the fundamentals right from the get-go.”
Gordon said he also envisions the continuation and expansion of similar courses, with a view to getting coaches accredited to become FIBA instructors.
“Ideally, what we want is for one of those instructors (FIBA) to be one of the Jamaicans to be trained as an instructor, so that the level 1 can be delivered in a wider way. The international instructors are few and far between, and it’s difficult to get them to come to your country when you actually need them. So, we want to expand the pool of our level one [coaches], so that the better ones can transition to level two and three. So that’s what we are looking for.”