LETTER TO COMMISSIONER, NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION

DEAR SIR, YOU ARE THE CUSTODIAN OF ONE OF THE GREATEST SPORTS IN THE HISTORY OF WORLD. BASKETBALL - the very name - makes children swoon in joy - ready to bounce the ball. I am an ordinary person - and have played the game - with lot of joy. AND I THINK IS THE GOAL OF YOUR ORGANIZATION - BASKETBALL FOR JOY, HEALTH, COMMUNITY SERVICE. Since you are making great efforts to introduce this game in my country - INDIA - I am very delighted to share some of my thoughts with you. I HAVE BEEN COACHING THE GAME - for the last TWENTY FIVE YEARS - it all started as a programme to teach my son this game - and one thing led to another. TODAY I train rural and urban children of Bangalore and its surroundings. In a remote village I have built SUMPOORNA BASKETBALL SCHOOL - where an opportunity is given to the very young ones to learn the basics of the game. IT IS JOY FOR ME - JOY FOR THEM. Most of my activities are put up as STATUSES in FACEBOOK. http://facebook.com/subhash.mahajan1 and i have a blog http://www.blogger.com/profile/143607126... THE REASON WHY I WRITE THIS LETTER IS - this - I think NBA should evolve a training programme - or an intervention programme - which strengthens basketball as an amazing sport. INDIA is unique in some senses. WE HAVE UNPAID - DEDICATED BASKETBALL COACHES - who are not in the mainstream of the game - due to various reasons. The administrators of this game in India - are not doing a great job - by any stretch of imagination. SO THE GAME is a hand-maiden of few city dwelling people. INDIA has two unique sports which are similar to BASKETBALL - KHO KHO and KABADDI - where you have millions of youth playing these games on a regular basis. They use clay courts for practice. And I have successfully converted such players into basketball players. SO IF NBA invests in an indoor basketball court - for the same value - ONE HUNDRED CLAY COURTS of basketball could be constructed. And this would give a great fillip to grass root promotion of the game. OF COURSE, there are many unused basketball courts also - wherein trainers could be motivated to start regular practice. I am a student of PEACE CORPS teachers - and I think what INDIA needs today - is a group of committed volunteers - who can join up with NBA to spear=head a programme - which suits INDIA. AND YOU WILL READILY FIND SUCH THOUSANDS OF VOLUNTEERS - EX PLAYERS - if you could provide the right type of direction. WHAT YOU HAVE IN USA - what you have in CHINA - are great examples of successful enterprise - BUT, SIR, INDIA IS different. You need to make a new mould. I am not very good at expressing my ideas - but this is the wisdom I think I should share with you. SUBHASH MAHAJAN optus.blore@gmail.com