All eyes were on NBA basketball star Randy Foye of the Denver Nuggets as he dribbled the ball and slammed it into the hoop at the Jr. NBA Malaysia 2014 National Training Camp on Aug 22 to 24.
For 64 lucky students who succeeded in making it to the three-day training camp, it was the chance of a lifetime to see the American player in action.
Foye and the other coaches from the United States, Hong Kong and Malaysia held a coaching clinic for the students at SJK (C) Kwong Hon.
The camp was presented by Dutch Lady Malaysia and supported by the education ministry.
The students were taught to work as a team, the techniques of dribbling and passing a ball, how to leap and shoot, and much more.
They were also given tips on leading a healthy and balanced lifestyle.
The Junior NBA programme was made possible by Fries landCampina, the holding company of Dutch Lady Malaysia, which has signed a multi-year regional partnership with the NBA to bring its international youth development programme to five Asian countries, including Malaysia.
Jim Wong, the Senior Director of Business Development and Marketing partnerships for NBA Asia Limited, said the programme was to grow and celebrate the game of basketball as well as to develop social responsibility.
“The Junior NBA programme is one of our global grassroots development programmes.
“It started off seven years ago in the Philippines and only this year has it been extended by NBA to four new areas namely Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.
“Before Southeast Asia, the Jr. NBA programmes have been long running in North America, India and even countries in Europe.
“We make these programmes, which run over a series of five stages, open to kids from the ages of 5 to 14 and it is free of charge.
“The first stage is what we call our open clinics to introduce the programme to the kids from the demographic range. Students will learn shooting, passing, footwork, dribbling and get the opportunity to learn new playing techniques.
“The open clinic at Sekolah Wawasan USJ15 on June 1 was open to students aged 5 to 14 from schools in the Klang Valley and around 800 students showed up for it.
“On May 31, we held a coaching clinic at the MABA Stadium in Kuala Lumpur for 250 qualified basketball coaches from various clubs and schools to hone their coaching skills.
“Out of the over 600 selected participants who made it to the regional camps on August 9 and 10, only 64 were selected to take part in this three-day Jr. NBA Malaysia National Training Camp which started on August 22,” he said.
“Of these 64 students, only 14 of the best players comprising 10 boys and four girls will be selected to form a Junior NBA Malaysia All-Stars team.
“The team will then be allowed to play against other Junior NBA All Star Teams from Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines sometime in October.
“Details of the matches, venues and dates of the event will be released later,” he said.
“We hope the Jr. NBA Malaysia programme will transform participants into great basketball players and maybe even unearth a Michael Jordan, Larry Bird or Magic Johnson of tomorrow,” he added.
Christofer Sumner, NBA Asia's basketball operations
specialist, said Foye and the coaches would be looking out for “STAR values” in their players (STAR stands for Sportsmanship, Teamwork, Atti tude, and Respect).
“We want our players to learn how to work and play together as a team, be great sportsmen, adopt a positive attitude to everything they do and have respect for themselves, their teammates, coaches and NBA officials.”
Foye said he was happy to teach the students how to play basketball. “I am here to teach them the basic fundamentals of the game. The students were very excited to be here as they worked extremely hard to make it to this training camp.”
When asked how he was coping with the Malaysian weather and food, Foye replied: “Last night, I enjoyed having the air batu campur (ABC) dessert which was sweet, delicious and packed with all kinds of ingredients.
“The Malaysian weather is not a problem for me as I hail from New Jersey and even though the weather over there isn’t as hot, the weather is somewhat similar to Malaysia. I’m willing to do almost anything to coach and help these kids out,” he said.