An eventful basketball showcase at BFI’s Junior Expo in Delhi

Published on November 30, 2011 by News Desk   ·   No Comments  Print This Post

INVC,,

Delhi,,

Featuring a mix of over a 100 school-kids from dozens of Delhi schools, 26 of the best junior (U18) basketball players from around India, and a famous American basketball coach now at the helm of the Indian national side, the first ever Basketball Federation of India (BFI) Junior Expo was an eventful showcase of basketball drills, competitions, and sportsmanship on Tuesday morning at the Sri Ram College of Commerce in New Delhi.

Kenny Natt, the American head coach of India’s Senior Men’s Basketball team, hosted the BFI Junior Expo, which was an exhibition of the talents of India’s U18 players, who had been in practice with Natt in Delhi over the past month. The U18 players helped Natt in organising a ‘Youth Basketball Camp’ at the expo, as they taught simple basketball drills to about a 120 basketball-loving kids from around the city. The camp was followed by shooting and skills competitions between the U18 players, and finally, the events of the day were capped off with a thrilling Junior All Star Game.

Children from different schools such as DPS (Mathura Road), Montfort School, Rockfield School, Modern School (Barakhamba), St. Michael’s School, Rosary School, Nirmal Bhartiya School, the SRCC College, and many more were present to pick up valuable hoop tips from the experienced coach and the young All Star players at the Youth Basketball Camp. The All Stars taught drills to improve passing, lay-ups, defensive movement, and shooting ability of the attending school-kids.

After the camp, Natt organised a Skills Challenge for some of his players, a competition which tested them for a mixed skill-set of dribbling, passing and shooting. This challenge was won by Nitin Chopade, while Siddharth Chouhan finished at second place. In the next competition – the Big Man Medley – Natt tested the taller players for their inside and outside shooting skills. This competition was won by Aravind A. with Karan Joshua ending at second place. Finally, a 3-point shooting contest was held, won by Loveneet Singh. Siddharth Chouhan ended at second place.

The eventful day concluded with an All Star Game between two sides amongst the Junior players. After leading at the end of the first half by just two points, ‘Team Red’ played good defense in the second half to take a 13 point lead over ‘Team White’ as the game reached its last few minutes. But a dramatic 15-2 run gave Team White its first lead in the game. In an exciting finish, it was Ajay Pratap Singh of Team Red who hit a lay-up and a free-throw with only a second left in the game to give his side a memorable win, 55-54. Aravind A. was named as the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of this game.

Natt thanked the participating players and the school-kids who had attended to learn and experience a showcase of top-quality basketball. “The school-children are the future of basketball in India,” said Natt, “I hope to see them becoming All Stars one day, too!”

Tags:  An eventful basketball showcase at BFI’s Junior Expo in Delhi, Basketball Federation of India, BFI, india, invc