LEARNING, LEARNING AND LEARNING!

Basketball is learning, learning and learning! A continuous evolution in understanding the various facets of the game. When Iverson makes an easy cross-over in a packed defence it looks so easy - but you try the same and IT ISN'T EASY! A senior player came to me and said `I KNOW HOW TO DRIBBLE, PASS AND SHOOT - WHAT ELSE IS THERE IN BASKETBALL TO LEARN. I replied learn more of dribbling, passing and shooting. He didn't believe me!

Learning never stops. If you love the game the way I do - every day you will learn something new. I remember, one ancient player coming to the court and just do dribbling for half an hour and not shoot a single basket. We, children only loved to shoot baskets. One day I went up to him and asked him Sir, why don't you shoot baskets. His reply was - I am trying to make the ball an extension of my body. I cannot forget those words even till today. MAKE THE BALL AN EXTENSION OF YOUR BODY - every time you get on to the court.

BE AMBIDEXTROUS! I had to teach children left hand lay-ups. In my whole life, till that time I had used only right hand for lay-ups. I took a leave of one week from the practice sessions and secretly practiced left hand lay-ups for hour after hour. My students thought I had some match coming up in which ONLY LEFT HAND WAS TO BE USED. By the end of the week, I was able to make left hand lay-ups - my joy knew no bounds. I boldly faced my students and taught them what I had learnt. NEVER EVER STOP LEARNING, especially when you feel `I CANNOT DO THIS'. Believe me, you can do anything.

BEING SMALL OR BIG IS NOTHING! A wrong notion has spread like a virus - that basketball is for tall people. Nothing is further from the truth. Being small is as great as being big. Both sizes have advantages and disadvantages. Find out what your strength is AND SHARPEN those skills. Be audacious - try to pick rebounds off the board by anticipating the trajectory of the ball even when surrounded by taller people. Use your widened body and raised arms to box out giants - I KNOW HOW TO DO IT! You too can! Double sandwich taller players forcing them to concede three seconds violation. GO OUT AND DO WHAT STEVE NASH DOES - he makes the whole world believe he is going to shoot - HE PASSES; and he makes the whole world believe again he is going to pass - HE SHOOTS. LEARN, LEARN AND LEARN - it is so easy to fall in love with basketball.

It is a great game - it makes you great! You are in the company of Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and other greats. Put up a photo of your favourite basketball player - watch his or her videos - then fully motivated, go out to the court and practice. Be serious with your learning and you will be rewarded. A tiny girl feels she can't shoot three pointers. Come to my practice sessions - tiny girls shoot three pointers - tiny girls drive in for a lay-up over big tall boys. THEY BELIEVE THEY CAN DO ANYTHING - and yes they do anything - they shoot basket after basket and I go home thinking WHAT HAVE I DONE! Many young players in the euphoria of having learnt one or two skills stop learning and become proud. This is what destroys a player. NEVER BE PROUD - never believe your learning is over. I am told of a 90 year old practicing shooting free-throws - the last time I heard he had made 174 continuous free throws. LEARN FROM SUCH EXAMPLES! Learning is a life-time business - you can't say I have learnt basketball - you can only say I am learning basketball. This attitude will make you a better player.

I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY LEARNING HAS TO BE PAINFUL. Especially, the younger players are easily put off by very harsh training regimes. Yes, there is a requirement of a minimum fitness - but coaches sometimes go over board! There has to be a judicious mix of skill and fitness. Most young people leave the game because of the attitude of the trainers and this is a great dis-service to the game of basketball. All basketball lovers have to remember this - UNLESS A LARGE NUMBER OF PEOPLE PLAY THIS GAME FOR FUN - the game will not attract youngsters - which is the key to the development of the game. JOYFUL LEARNING has to be the code ethic for any training programme - it takes off a lot of pressure and LEARNING is much faster - at any level! We had coach A and coach B in our camp. Coach A was a very serious trainer - he believed that you had to exhaust the children with fitness regimes. Coach B was an easy going one - he made children do light warm up and then play matches. In no time, attendance in Coach A's classes went down by 80% and Coach B's class had almost 100% attendance.

HOW MUCH TIME TO LEARN BASKETBALL? A question asked by many students. My reply is I AM 56 YEARS and I am still learning! WOW, THEY EXCLAIM! The temple of learning for a player is the BASKETBALL COURT. Some go to the court only for chatting - and some go to the court for LEARNING. Which one are you? How many of you touch the court and pray before entering? Your learning begins by being able to understand the fact that YOU HAVE COME FOR LEARNING! Enjoy your learning but do not fool around. The greatest anguish for me as a coach is WHEN I FIND children `wasting' their time on the court in activities other than basketball. It is not learning! A code ethic must be in place - joyful learning means when you create for yourself a SELF DISCIPLINE. The earlier it is in place - LEARNING CAN THEN BEGIN.

If there is less of technical knowledge of basketball in my manual - it is due to the reason that I have been coaching younger children for decades and believe that first they should know how to conduct themselves during practice sessions - and after that basketball learning can take place.