The National Basketball Federation of Trinidad & Tobago (NBFTT) registered a huge rebound off an assist from the Academy of Sports & Leisure Studies (ASLS), University of Trinidad & Tobago (UTT), during a joint exercise recently. A summary of their partnership of a Basketball Coaches’ Clinic and an NBA Training Clinic was best described by one of its participants, Anastasia Griffith, as “Priceless stuff”.
During the period August 8th to 12th, 2009 a total of seventy-five (75) persons of various sporting levels attended these development programmes hosted by the two institutions. According to UTT’s Michael Grayson, Technical Supervisor, High Performance Unit of ASLS, who spoke at the opening ceremony of the NBA Clinic, the relationship between the NBFTT and UTT started back in August 2008 with the appointment of Terry Layton as the Basketball Coach at UTT, based on a recommendation from the NBFTT.
Subsequently, in June 2009, this relationship blossomed as UTT’s proposal that Layton be appointed as the Trinidad and Tobago Men’s Head Coach for the Caribbean Basketball Championships was accepted by the NBFTT. This turned out to be a huge boost for basketball as team TT registered its best performance in over 15 years with a convincing first round group victory against Jamaica, the eventual winners and a Championship Semi-Final appearance. This also turned out to be the catalyst for these two development programmes.
This third initiative by NBFTT and UTT was an overwhelming experience as participants were exposed to the various techniques, practices and strategies employed by coaches and trainers at the highest levels of the sport.
From August 8th to 9th, 2009 nineteen (19) basketball coaches, including former National & WNBA player Petra Gay and T&T Hall of Fame Coach Joseph Lenny Guy attended the clinic. The local coaches were exposed to another philosophy of the game by two NCAA Division One Women Head Coaches, Larry Tidwell of Lamar University and John Ishee of Southeast Missouri University at the Woodbrook Youth Facility, in the capital city, Port of Spain. The Head Coaches were ably supported by Assistant Coaches Joey Wells, Heather Morris and Emily Spicker, all of whom are members of the Lamar University’s Women Basketball Technical staff.
Providing On Court Demonstrations were eight members of the Millennium Basketball Academy Boys’ U17 Team, two UTT basketball players and the two visiting female Coaches, Heather & Emily, who were extremely efficient with the execution of their skills and drills on the court.
Immediately following the successful Coaches’ Clinic, an NBA Training Clinic was staged at the Hyatt Regency Conference Room from August 10th to 11th , featuring Roger Hinds, Head Athletic Trainer NY Knicks, as the main presenter.
This clinic attracted fifty six (56) participants, including members of the UTT technical staff and physical training instructors from the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force.
Hinds received expert assistance from Lawrence Mann; Founder, Basketball Coach, Trainer & Youth Mentor of Top Achievers Foundation in Plano, Texas, USA.
This clinic provided trainers, coaches and players of the local basketball fraternity with much needed image enhancement techniques as well as exposure to the highest possible overall quality training available.
Fortunately for Trinidad and Tobago, Roger Hinds is a citizen and he stated publicly that this was the most overwhelming experience for him, even ahead of being the Head Trainer for the 1996 U.S. Gold Medal Dream Team that included such basketball legends as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing, etc. He offered his firm commitment to continue working with the NBFTT and UTT to share his expertise and for recruiting qualified personnel to help develop the sport of basketball in Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean region.
Hinds is the first ever NBA professional to conduct such a high calibre training programme in Trinidad and Tobago....thanks to the NBFTT & UTT!
Whilst both clinics provided participants with enhanced knowledge and practical training the general consensus was for the need of certification of local basketball coaches and athletic trainers. Hinds referred such inquiries to Oba Gulston, Head of Rehabilitation Unit of ASLS, as UTT will be offering short courses in Athletic Training, in the near future.
As for certified coaching courses, both Brian Manning, President of The National Basketball Federation of Trinidad and Tobago, as well as, Ken Butcher, Executive Manager, of The Academy of Sports & Leisure Studies of The University of Trinidad and Tobago, reiterated their firm commitment and as a priority goal to have UTT develop programmes for local coaches and trainers.
