Success and failure go hand in hand. What happens when you only see success for a prolonged period of time and then suddenly endure failure? You still fight on! This is exactly what Shiba Maggon, India’s legendary basketball player is experiencing.
With no wins at Phase-1 of the UBA, the Haryana Gold, coached by Shiba Maggon have a lot to think about as they head into the business end of the tournament. Maggon, who has won almost everything in her career says she doesn’t expect any “miracles” but she will “never give up”.
This is the first time Maggon is experiencing a major low in her illustrious basketball career. After winning six gold medals at the senior nationals for Railways, one gold and eight silver medals for Delhi, she was ranked in the Top 5 Asian players at the FIBA Asian Championships for Women. She was also a part of the Indian team that went to the Commonwealth games in Australia in 2006 before taking up coaching as her full-time profession. She has had a dream run for a women’s basketball player in our country, and it is easy to get disheartened when things don’t go your way.
Being on TV puts extra pressure on the players
“Initially, it was very difficult for me. The players were frustrated, they were giving it back to me. The senior players are more frustrated. The youngsters are nervous. They go scared that if they make one mistake they will be out. They are disheartened because they are playing for the first time on TV. People are watching and they are losing. So that is affecting them. Each time I tell them I'm sailing on the same boat. I'm also struggling like you, and still I have not given up. My mom is also not keeping well and I have problems too. So that’s helping them understand that you can take things positively.”
Maggon is the coach of the Junior women’s team and managing a full-fledged men’s team is always difficult. Also, the UBA is being telecast on TV, which puts extra pressure on the players to perform. On being asked whether it is difficult to coach a men’s team being a woman, Maggon says she has absolutely no problem at all.
“It is not difficult. I coached the girls team and the boys team when I started. To connect with their minds is not a problem for me. The senior players have seen me playing. Whenever I tried to make them understand something, they will always take it, even when I'm really mad. You never tell them ‘hey you don’t know this’. I would never object their personal lifestyle. I would only teach them. Men have ego and if you hurt their ego, then they are not going to evolve. So I don’t do that. That makes it easier with the boys.”
Even after sharing all the experience of her career, her team, the Haryana Gold have lost all their games in Phase-1 of the UBA season 2. They are not one of the strongest teams owing to younger and inexperienced players. Most players fall into the age bracket of 19-23. While she is trying to help the young bunch work on their movement and offense, she is happy to see there is tremendous learning taking place at their level.
“Our players like to stand there and play with the ball. They don’t know the right timings of the cuttings. They don’t know spacing and how to find gaps. One player only sticks to one place, the other player standing behind won't get to move because the other person is standing there. I'm trying to teach them motion offence. When you have the ball you touch it for only four minutes, 36 minutes what are you going to do without the ball, that is what is being taught. They have been taught the anticipation of the rebounds, which they didn’t know earlier. These are basic fundamentals.”
Joining team late did not help
Maggon joined the team late and the players were already undergoing camps under American coaches before the season began. This didn’t help the team after she joined, as there was a slight contrast in the way both coaches approached the game tactically. But the ex-India captain says the players are not here worry about winning and losing, but to develop their game. And the UBA is setup in such a way that it is the development of Indian basketball that is their primary focus.
“I have not played my part also because I joined them late, but apart from winning and losing they are learning what has been taught to them. These players have not come over here to win it all, they have come here to develop their own game. I don’t know about rest of the teams, but my boys have improved“
While Phase-2 of the UBA in Hyderabad looms, the Haryana Gold have nothing to loose as competing in the playoffs looks like a distant dream. Shiba and her team will be hoping to finish the season on a high, and the players should only be looking at the how much they have grown in the tournament, because as a wise man once said: “Sometimes you need to lose the small battles in order to win the war.”
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