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The Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT) will host a 5 day training camp from 2 to 6 February. It’ll be attended by the Tamil Nadu basketball players (men from ages 19-25 and a group of junior girls) and coaches. The camp will be conducted by JD Walsh, provided he’s not jet-lagged as he’s just arrived a day before the camp. Being a frequent traveler, he probably won’t be.
In the past four years, Walsh has been all over India. Places he’s been include and are not limited to, Delhi, Kashmir, Mumbai, Punjab, Pune, Chennai, Kerala, Maharashtra, Noida, Kolkata and Mizoram. Its an understatement to say that he travels often. I’d hate to be the one to have to trail him. I can picture myself tracking his movements in my batcave, throwing darts at his current location, and in the time the dart leaves my hands and strikes the map he’ll be off holding a camp somewhere else.
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For him, New York and Mumbai are two places he considers as home. They say home is where the heart is. His heart was given to basketball and humanity a long time ago. Yes, the two do go hand in hand sometimes. See, when he holds a basketball camp for underprivileged orphans for CHINAR (Child nurture and relief) in Kashmir, he also shines a spotlight on their plight making it visible around the globe. It helps to attract donations for their cause. By the way, the purpose of that camp wasn’t just to run around. As summarized on their website:
“The purpose of the basketball clinic was to utilize the powerful influence of sport as a means of psychosocial rehabilitation and community integration of children impacted by conflict. The clinic will be part of a three year program “Hoops for Health” that will consist of the recruitment, training and hiring of a permanent coach, building an onsite basketball court and arranging games for the CHINAR youth.”
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He's 6 ft 8. Act like you know
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And here’s what former United States Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage had to say on Walsh during a hearing of national security reforms:
“You know the most effective public diplomacy I’ve seen? It’s been basketball…There’s a J.D. Walsh right now in basketball, he’s a Maryland graduate, he’s in India doing this same thing, but he’s expanded on the idea. He’s using it to also, as they teach basketball, to have HIV/AIDS testing, to teach courses in nonviolent conflict resolution. He’s not talking about Arab-Israeli peace issues, or Al Qaida, for that matter, but he’s having more effect in diplomacy than you can imagine.”
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In Tamil Nadu
He’s just arrived in Tamil Nadu. This will be his 6th camp in this state, more times than any other state in India. According to him: “Tamil Nadu is the basketball capital of India for sure. They use their resources very well.”
During this clinic, they plan to conduct team building exercises, brush up on tactical plays and strategies, practice different offensive and defensive formations and other drills. They will also be joined by Don Casey (former head coach of Nets and Clippers) via Skype for talks with Indian coaches.The camp may be for a short duration, but it’s impact will stay with the players and coaches who will get to interact with Walsh and others who are involved with the game at the top level.
Dwight Howard had a two hour training session with Hakeem this summer, and now look at his post game! (Sorry SVG) And this camp is for 5 days.
I recently came across a comment on the efforts of the NBA in India, which also applies to those who conduct clinics in India for a brief period of time: “Having NBA challenge in a nation of billion + is a marketing strategy. having session in concrete jungle is not addressing the game.” Excuse the grammar, it’s from the Facebook page of Basketball India. The man may have a point, but it reminded me of a story by Loren Eiseley:
“While wandering a deserted beach at dawn, stagnant in my work, I saw a man in the distance bending and throwing as he walked the endless stretch toward me. As he came near, I could see that he was throwing starfish, abandoned on the sand by the tide, back into the sea. When he was close enough I asked him why he was working so hard at this strange task. He said that the sun would dry the starfish and they would die. I said to him that I thought he was foolish. there were thousands of starfish on miles and miles of beach. One man alone could never make a difference. He smiled as he picked up the next starfish. Hurling it far into the sea he said, “It makes a difference for this one.” I abandoned my writing and spent the morning throwing starfish.”
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At Chennai, February 2011
To this group, it makes a difference.
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Check back in a few days for a recap of this clinic.
