Improving the Basketball Standard in India

Discussion Document for Basketball Federation of India

Created by : Siddhartha Dev

September 2009
Table of Contents

Introduction: 3

What ails Indian Basketball 4

Actions to Improve Basketball Standard 6

Next Steps 9

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Achievements of Indian Basketball
Nobody will confuse this with outstanding performance.
Ranking in Asian Basketball Championship

Men Women Under 18 Men Under 18 Women

1960’s 5th – 7th DNP DNP DNP

1970’s 4th – 7th 10th 4th – 15th DNP

1980’s 5th – 10th 7th – 9th 10th – 12th 4th – 6th

1990’s 11th – 13th 6th – 9th 9th – 13th 6th – 9th

2000’s 8th – 15th 7th – 10th 7th – 13th 6th – 9th

• Highlights (Men)
• Indian Men’s team is currently jointly ranked 49th in the world with Syria.
• Our best place finish is 4th in 1951 in Asian Games and in 1975 in ABC.
• India participated in the 1980 Olympics. Only the top two teams from Asia qualify for Olympics and World Championships.
India had not qualified but due to the US led boycott we were invited to fill the quorum. India lost to Soviet Union by a record
number of points . This record was later broken by Egypt and USA in the Barcelona Olympics.
• In the 2009 ABC, India lost 121-49 to China.
• In Under 18 our best place finish is 4th in 1972 and a 5th place in 1970. Since then the best finish has been a 7th in 2004.
• Highlights (Women)
• Indian Women’s team is currently jointly ranked 41st in the world.
• Indian Women’s team came second in Level II in 2005. The championship was divided into two levels: Level I and Level II.
The winner of the second division progresses to the first division at the next edition. The actual ranking of India was 10th just
below Hong Kong.
• The best position the women’s team has got is 4th in 1992.
• In Under 18 our best place finish is 4th in 1980 and 5th in 1989.

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What are the root causes of the failure of Indian Basketball?
Cagers in India can outline many lacunae in Indian Basketball. Lack of infrastructure, lack of government
support, lack of pride in players etc. But for all the reasons there are two root causes Lack of Vision and
Misaligned Incentives.
Administrators:
 Focus on short-term goals. Such as
sending the team to ABC.
 Less focus on improving results.
 No long-term major investment on
stadiums or training facilities.
 Without a vision there is no reason for
money to flow to Basketball.

Lack of
Overarching Ad hoc-ism rules and
thus adversely effects Coaches:
Compelling  Coaching of coaches is not well planned.
long-term planning
Vision  Coaching standard is abysmally low. NIS
is a generic coaching school. It provides
no specialized inputs.
 Coaches are not well versed with the
latest knowledge.

Players:
 Representing India is the pinnacle.
Performance of the Indian team in
tournaments is not a consideration.
 Players are focused on getting into the
Indian team. Performance after that is
dependent on individual pride.

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What are the root causes of the failure of Indian Basketball contd.?

Administrators:
 Government is the major contributor to
keep the system running.
 Without the discipline from market forces
i.e. sponsors there is not much incentive
to improve performance and increase
visibility of Basketball in India.
 Focus is to keep the system from stalling.

Bad incentives has

Misaligned Coaches:
disastrous effect on
 Government jobs, school or college
Incentives the actions of
coaching are the option for coaches. The
constituents
effort required is to get the job. There is
no incentive to continuously update
themselves after they get the job.

Players:
 The focus is on getting the job. Again the
effort required is to get a job in
government . Representing India is
enough for a good job. Further promotions
are based on performance in domestic
tournaments such as Police Games,
Nationals.
 There is not enough incentive to work
hard to do well in International
tournaments.
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Six Steps to Improve the Basketball Standards in India
The following outlines the six steps required to create a vision for Basketball in India and change the
incentives for the administrators, coaches and players.

Plan a Vision
1 A 2-day workshop to create and plan a vision for
Basketball future.

Professionalize Working of BFI

2 Paid professionals to support elected officials.
Form advisory committees to advise BFI.

Remove Dependency on Government

3 Appoint a marketing agency on a full-time basis.
Create business case for Corporate to invest.

Improve Coaching Standards

4 Create coaching levels A to F grade.
Establish several training establishments.
Incentivize Players
5 Increase international tournaments participations
Hire a Player Development Agencies

Establish a Professional League

6 Establish a professional league in India.

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Elaboration of the Six Steps
Description
 One person can have a vision but it has to be shared by
many for things to be acted upon.
 We suggest a 2 day offsite workshop to come up with a
vision and a plan of action.
 Vision and Plan to focus on the following:
• Grand vision on participating in Olympics and World
Plan a Vision Championships by year XXXX
• FIBA rankings in 2 yrs, 5 yrs and 10 yrs
• Performance in Asia and Commonwealth
• Increasing money in Basketball in India
• Improving infrastructure and coaching
• Plan for state to increase pool of talent
• Identify International tournaments for participation
 Establish a professional culture in BFI.
 Create marketing and sales positions and hire MBA’s.
 Create Key Performance Indicators for BFI officials.
Professionalize  Form advisory committees from Ex players, coaches
and professionals to advise BFI. examples given below.
Workings of BFI • Corporate Sponsorships
• Coaching Standards
 Remove dependency on Government for daily running of
Remove BFI .
Dependency on  Government help will be required for developing indoor
stadiums and other large capital expenditures.
Government
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Activities
 First we decide on the outline of the 2-day
workshop, locations and dates. The workshop will
be similar to any corporate workshop.
 Next we will identify potential participants in the
workshop . They will include
• BFI officials,
• Players,
• Coaches ,
• Former players and
• Interested professionals
 Gather data on the workings of other countries
such as China, Serbia, Iran etc to be used in the
workshop.
 Conduct the workshop
 Create a annual plan of activities and budget for it .
 Establish a target budget for the year which should
include XX% corporate sponsorship.
 Create a Marketing and Sales department which
will help sell the National tournaments such as
Under 16 etc and get sponsorship for international
tournaments.
 Create committees and request people to
participate.
 Establish a target budget for the year which should
include XX% corporate sponsorship.
 Target 2011 to be the year for self sufficiency
when no government help is required.
Elaboration of the Six Steps
Description
 NIS is not good enough. We need to create coaching
standards.
 For Example
• Grade A – Coach of Senior Indian Team. Has been
assistant coach of senior team and main coach of
Improve junior Indian teams in International competitions.
Coaching • Grade B – Coach of Junior Indian Team. Attended
coaching clinics abroad and in India.
Standards • Grade C – Coach of Senior State Team
• Grade D – Coach of U-20 State Team
• Grade E – Coach of U-18 State Team and have
knowledge of medicines, injuries, strength training
etc.
• Grade F – NIS
 We need to incentivize players to keep improving and
focus on training to get better.
 Indian teams to participate in tournaments on a regular
Incentivize basis. The target should be at least two tournaments a
year for each team (Junior and Senior level). So by the
Players time ABC and Commonwealth Games come we have a
group of experienced players.
 Player Development agencies to market Indian talent to
various leagues abroad.
 Establish a Professional League in India.
Establish a  This will act as an incentive for players and coaches as
Professional they will paid for performance.
 It will increase the visibility of Basketball in India and get
League corporate interested in spending money.
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Activities
 First we will establish the grades of coaching and
the skill level and exams that need to be passed to
get to each level.
 Next we will establish payment levels for top two
grades. The payment levels should be high
enough for people to have an incentive to go tot
eh next level. For ex. A VP in Corporate gets paid
much less than a CEO. This acts as an incentive
for VP’s to work hard to become a CEO.
 Research Coaching clinics that are conducted
abroad for people to attend. The attendees to be
approved and sponsored by BFI.
 Establish a Coaches ‘Committee of Experts’ in
India to train and update lower grade coaches.
 Research Professional Leagues in the world in
which Indian players can play.
 Research Player Development agencies who can
market Indian players in various professional
leagues.
 Identify International tournaments for Indian teams
to participate in on a regular basis.
 Identify Leagues /Camps for Junior players e.g.
Nike Summer League.
 Build the business case for a Professional
League.
Next Steps

• Socialize our idea with BFI officials.

• Present to identified stakeholders and refine the idea with their inputs.
• Identify Professionals to support the cause.
• Plan for the 2-day Workshop.
• Establish budget for the Workshop.
• Identify participants, locations and dates.
• Create outline of activities for the two days.
• Create presentation materials and background research material for participants.

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Thank You

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