A humble request on behalf of Pakistani Basketball
Basketball is one of the most popular and widely viewed sports in the World. In 1900 basketball was introduced in the Sub-Continent and it soon made its way to Lahore. The game might have come to Karachi about the same time.
In the late 1920s, basketball became one of the regular University Sports. Since 1947, Pakistan has had a basketball Olympic team. In February 1952, the Pakistan Amateur Basketball Federation formally inaugurated and began functioning in early 1953. More than a hundred countries including Pakistan are members of the International Basketball Federation (F.I.B.A.) at present.
The above-mentioned is the bookish information. The actual point of concern is the current situation of the game of basketball in Pakistan. If we look into basketball tournaments in Pakistan you will come across the same old faces that we have been seeing for the past few years or so, some of them were no doubt relatively young at that time but now have grown up and are playing at the inter-city club level. However, there seems to be a shortage of new players.
Pakistan’s basketball courts used to be overflowing with players. Now days you would be lucky to get a whole team to show up for practice after calling players and informing them of an upcoming tournament.
So who is to blame? The system? The youth? Parents? Society? Culture? Moreover, the list goes on.
Quite honestly, it is a little bit of all. Parents used to not only focus on academics. They knew in order to build character extra-curricular activities were just as important. They knew it helped their children understand that teamwork was of the essence. They also knew children that learned from their mistakes and losses in the field, made better leaders.
Speaking of leaders, pick the greatest of them and you will find they had a background in sport as well. We would like to clarify at this point that we do not in any way mean that academia is not important it is and has utmost importance. However, extra-curricular activities do not need to suffer at the expense of academics.
Now why do we blame our youth? Simple, they want everything too easily, too quickly, as if you are just supposed to get up and give them what they want, no questions asked. Nevertheless, this is a global phenomenon. Day in and day out we see kids who will just show up on the court take a round or two, step into the game, and just keep asking for the ball so he/she can try to embarrass the team with their self-acclaimed skills.
Mind you 7 times out of 10 the team with Mr. Showboat loses. Kids now days watch players like Jordan, Kobe, LeBron, Wade, and feel everything is as easy as it looks on the tube. Kids need to look deeper. Professional basketball players dedicate their entire life to the sport. Kobe takes 1500-1700 jump shots a day. Ever wonder how he makes those shots with a hand in his face, well that is how.
Dear potential basketball stars, we are not saying to go to those extremes but work on the basics. Do those ever so important drills and try to improve on day at a time. It is a promise, you will succeed. You will be looked up to one day by others and we hope you’ll be able to remember and pass on the message that we have just passed on to you.
Work hard at everything you set your mind to. Go forth and lead.
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