October 30, 2013
NEW DELHI: The NBA season is all set to begin on Wednesday morning (IST) when current champions Miami Heat play Chicago Bulls and fans in India can expect a treat this year as they would get to view over 300 live regular season games.
October 30, 2013
NEW DELHI: The NBA season is all set to begin on Wednesday morning (IST) when current champions Miami Heat play Chicago Bulls and fans in India can expect a treat this year as they would get to view over 300 live regular season games.
"14 matches will be televised in India every week as part of daily NBA double-headers," informed Yannick Colaco, managing director, NBA India.
Talking about what fans can expect from the current season, Yannick said, "The league is going to be very competitive with teams like Brooklyn Nets, Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors having brought in new talent in the off-season. The level and talent pool of players is among the best we've had, which is going to make for an exciting and competitive season. However, Miami Heat, with players like LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade, will start as favourites."
When asked if the visits of former and current players has been effective in promoting the game here in India, he said, "We've had over 20 NBA legends visit India in the last few years to help promote the game of basketball. The primary goal of legends travelling here is to work with the kids, inspire them to continue to play the game of basketball and to provide them with role models."
"Our main aim is to help basketball grow in India through grass-root programs focused on youth. While NBA Jam is for college kids between the age of 16-23, junior NBA is focused on school kids between the age group of 8-16."
Asked whether the measures taken by NBA India have helped in the growth of the game, Colaco said, "Growth across platforms has been significant. Our audience is largely young and tech-savvy. Thus social media is one of the key components and our social media following has grown by 400%. Participation in events like NBA Jam and junior NBA has also been growing fast. This year over 1,000 teams registered to play for the Jam."
Cocalo added, "We have launched a comprehensive school-based program where we will incorporate the sport of basketball into the school curriculum of partner schools. We are bringing in five foreign coaches in each city who would first be working with the physical education teachers, guiding them as to how to train kids in the sport, through a curriculum which is fun and engaging.
"The coaches will then assist the PE teachers in implementing the program across their schools over a period of three months. We expect to reach and engage one million kids and train 2,000 coaches in 1,000 schools across ten cities by the year three of the program."
Courtesy: TNN
