By Morissa Lindsay
The vision to develop and take Barbados basketball from the grassroots to the next level is a work in progress, thanks to TrueChamps in conjunction with locally based outlet Next Generation Athletics and Basketball Academy headed by national stalwart Zahir Motara.
Originated in Canada, the TrueChamps academy continues to visit Barbados annually to help develop young local talent and after a two-year break because of the Coronavirus pandemic, lead coordinator, Josh Cardoza and his team visited the island this past weekend thanks to the Ministry of Sport, Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc and the National Sports Council.
During an interview with the media on Sunday at the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex, Cardoza said it felt good to be back in Barbados with his group that also comprises Jerome Smith – basketball director, Miguel Pink – instructor, Dr Joel Kerr – therapist, and Selase Hotsayme – testing expert, along with the media team of Kaizen Parcasio and Nick Ciaglia.
“It has been amazing to see the kids after such a long hiatus, I know that Covid has cut things short and there was a lot of frustration and a lot of people being stagnant, not moving a lot. We can kind of see that in the movement of the players but now they are excited to get back on the court. Coming back and getting right back into the rhythm for some of us, it has been amazing reuniting with the players we have not seen in so long. We can see it on their faces, the excitement, by their reactions. It feels so good to be back, so good to be in Barbados and reconnecting. We are really excited to be here,” Cardoza explained.
After the two-year break, Cardoza shared what they planned for the players including some of what is done at the NBA level. “We have set up skill stations, we also did game play so the players can put the team concepts into form and they can practise what we have been teaching them. We also did life skills, they learned about injury prevention, chiropractic, talked about the pillars of health, eating and sleeping and things they need to be doing to operate at peak performance.
“Also this year, we were able to incorporate some of the NBA contacts that we have to support not only the campers, but us as well. We had Jama Mahlalela of the Golden State Warriors join in with us virtually and was able to speak to the players about what coaches look for and what they can do in their age group to enhance their skill levels and talked about the balance of life. We also had an NBA representative that works in the head office in New York, and deals with international development specifically, have a virtual meeting with the coaches so anyone in Barbados, in administration as well, was able to ask questions and speak with this professional who deals with basketball on a global scale,” he said.
While the pandemic had a global impact and TrueChamps was not spared, Cardoza noted that it allowed them to rebrand and they now have plans to expand throughout the Caribbean.
“Well, we rebranded in the sense that we really want to focus a lot of our energy into the Caribbean. Us being in Toronto and not being able to travel much, we have had more time to plan things and what that has allowed us to do is enhance a lot of our programming. This year, things that we were not able to do in the past, we were able to put those pieces into place and execute them this year.
“For example we were able to bring down an athletic assessment professional, and he basically simulated an NBA combine. Brought his equipment and lights, and it was really cool to see. It was something different for the kids, something we had never tried before and we have had the time during Covid to reevaluate our programming and always throw something new into the mix. We were able to also connect with some media personnel and we did a media day for the players similar to the NBA Media at the start of the season and it gave our players a chance to gain some confidence in front of the cameras in their own version of the media day,” Cardoza expressed.
Even though not much was able to happen during the break, Cardoza admitted to seeing progress from Barbadian players who have a desire to do well in the sport.
“There has been progress for sure, the children are starting younger and that is one of the things we said we wanted to see here in Barbados. Major kudos to people like Zahir Motara and his NextGen team. They are definitely recruiting younger players to get a ball in their hands, to let them start dribbling and develop a passion for the game.
“There is a lot of competition with football and cricket and netball and these other sports that are popular here. We want basketball to be in that conversation as well. There are also younger coaches that have a hunger for getting the youth involved and we are happy to see that. It helps to get the skillset up to a higher level and closer to what we see on a global level,” he added.
This is the first time that the TrueChamps camp was held in an indoor facility at the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex and former national basketball captain Motara, a brainchild behind the collaboration, said it was good to have the overseas team back in Barbados.
“It’s good to have them back, especially with the Covid pandemic not allowing them to be back since 2019. It’s good to see the team again, as they bring a full team of physios, trainers, videographers, because they try to capture the whole element of the games and how the camp is run, bringing the experience of how things such as Basketball Without Borders is run.
“This is the first year that we would have had access to the indoor court at the Gymnasium for TrueChamps. Before there would have been some element of rain or bad weather which affected the camp. A home for basketball would provide a certainty that no matter the weather, something would happen every day of the camp. Having somewhere, even if it is just a roof where you can train consistently and know that training can happen each day that is pretty much a blessing. It changes the whole element of training, where you can plan better and be more consistent and have more days available as well. Having a home would make a big difference in the sport of basketball,” Motara explained.
He added: “We usually have TrueChamps come and work during the NextGen camp but that has not started yet so since the National Sports Council Sports Camp is going on, we took the best 20 players of the two age groups, 12-14 and 15-18 to attend the TrueChamps camp. It is good to see some of the younger players, who would have been very little ones the last time TrueChamps were here and when NextGen first started, on the court. There are here and working a lot harder now and finding out what it means to go through basketball training like this as they have developed.” morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb
