More development partnerships coming for basketball
Published:Thursday | January 5, 2023 | 1:32 AMHubert Lawrence/Gleaner Writer
JAMAICA BASKETBALL Association (JBA) president, Paulton Gordon, has pointed to the invitation of an Italian academy as one of the synergies his organisation will be looking to take advantage of as a way to help develop the sport.
“We have an Italian academy coming to sign some agreements with us, and that will be far-reaching in terms of the development pathway of the sport,” said Gordon.
The JBA president was looking down the road at the spinoffs and the direction his organisation wants to go on the back of a training course held this December.
Facilitated by the Jamaica Olympic Association, the World Association of Basketball Coaches sent instructor Nelson Isley to share his knowledge with 22 of Jamaica’s best. Gordon says these coaches will work to fill a critical gap in the sport’s development.
“Outside of what these coaches are doing in school and with their clubs, etcetera, what they will be tasked with as a big part of that group that was trained will be to invest their time at the mini-level. Some of their time to give back,” Gordon explained.
“We’re trying to put together, at this point in time, 30 cluster teams across the island based at primary schools, and these coaches will be asked to dedicate their time to help the other coaches around in those spaces and to help with the development of that cluster that they will be in charge of.”
According to Gordon, this will be an important legacy of the training course. “Ultimately, what we see is more primary schools, more mini-level basketball being played, which has been a big gap, and you know, the other sports. That’s the genesis of the talent. So that is what we think the biggest legacy of the coaching course will be,” said Gordon.
In addition, the JBA expects the process to involve teachers of physical education. “With that, we’ll also engage the PE teachers in that space, who’ll also be locked into understanding the game better and understanding what it is like to impart that fundamental knowledge when these coaches, the more elite coaches, are not around.”