Larry Ryan
LAST year was Basketball Ireland's annus horribilis.
The association simply ran out of money, our international teams were pulled, a development programme set to run in the States was shelved.
Ireland had backed away ignominiously from European basketball and a nation with 300,000 players was denied the ability to dream.
The past year has seen much financial restructuring and soul-searching within the organisation.
In March, former FAI chief executive Bernard O'Byrne came on board to lead the organisation; his commercial background prized as sponsorship money proves ever more elusive for sports that struggle on without the lifeblood television gives others.
But before that, in January, there were small steps. Having held two public meetings the previous November, Basketball Ireland decided to enter Irish teams - boys and girls - at U16 level in this summer's European Championships.
If it was a tentative toe back in the water, it wasn't exactly an investment in our youth.
The boys who will travel to Macedonia in July and the girls who trek to Romania in August must find €2000-€2500 to fund their trip and preparations. Dreams will come at a price.
The man who will lead the boys to Skopje is Dave Baker, who once had his own dreams tragically dashed when he discovered a heart problem while playing college ball in the US. At just 20, he had to retire from the game he lives and breaths and threw himself into coaching instead.
He now coaches full-time, a roster of teams - Tolka Rovers U20, Dublin Business School, Griffith College, the Irish Senior Womens' Deaf team. And for the last three months he has worked for free with the Irish boys, rebuilding a sport from the ground up.
"Basically, we have got back to grass roots, start at the beginning and focus on boys and girls U16s," says Baker, bubbling with enthusiasm for a mammoth task. "We will try and bring this group through, get some movement on the sport in Ireland again."
He has had three months to put together a team. And a programme. More than 170 kids over two weeks tried out from everywhere in the country. It's been cut to 15 and Dave has weeks to get them competitive. Then break three hearts to pick 12.
"They came from all over. It was fantastic. We even had a Spanish kid who flew over to try out. His Mam is Basque and his dad his Irish and it was always his dad's dream for him to play for Ireland and the kid wanted it as well."
So far Ander Caira has made the cut.
Another youngster came from England. "He had already been selected to play for them in the same competition but he contacted us saying his grandmothers were both Irish and his Mam was Irish and he'd love to play for Ireland."
The change in our population demographic has also deepened Baker's pool, even if red tape often intervenes.
"It's great that with the different cultures and backgrounds here now, we are getting different sized kids. We had one guy; 6 foot 8 or 9, 21 stone, a monster. African background, but he has lived here since he was four. But he couldn't get a passport and we had to drop him off the team. Several Lithuanian kids have been in the same position."
Time, however, is Baker's biggest obstacle. Getting 12 Irish club players to the level of intensity needed to compete in just three or four months is almost impossible. Take out a month for the Junior Cert and the task is even bigger.
"Because of the whole organisational change, it's been a really short programme. Contact hours are massive. The Germans go into a school of excellence for a year before the European championship. The Dutch appoint a coach simply to scout for players two years before a tournament. We grab hours and weekends when we can."
Together with his assistant Scott Kinevan, Baker has travelled the country organising camps and quick sessions in Galway, Dublin, up North, wherever he can gather his players.
Sometimes, they'll just travel for one-to-one coaching at the players' own clubs. "In between their exams, we'll take them shooting for a couple of hours and they are back at their books in the afternoon."
"We really need a lot of time with them. Things that might work for these guys in their clubs in Ireland are not going to work at European level. You get a 6 foot 5 young fella standing under the basket in Kerry. When he goes away, Vlad is going to be seven foot and guarding him and he will never see the ball.
"So it's quite important that we know what we're doing and we select the right guys for the right style we are going to play."
And the three months so far have brought progress. Earlier this month, the squad flew to Bilbao to learn, bond and play. The played the third-ranked U16 team in Spain and lost by just 12 points. "It was just a different world to the level we are at," marvelled Baker. "The facilities…"
They stuck with the Basque national team - "a memorable occasion" - until three or four minutes to go, before the occasion got to them a little.
"We lost that game by 20 points in the end. I think the pressure got to us. We didn't close the game out properly."
All invaluable learning experiences.
"These kids wouldn't have played together before. It's all about trying to get their intensity levels up, their cohesion up and pack a lot of learning into three months. A tough ask. We're going away as a small country, pretty much at the bottom end of the food chain in European basketball. Last time we were in this tournament, we suffered deficits of 40, 50 points.
"We need to get it into these guys that even if you do suffer a defeat like that, you get up again and go again with the same enthusiasm or even more enthusiasm for the next game."
Another trip will take the twelve selected players to Scotland before a one-week camp in Gormanston College before the finals. It's all about gradually introducing kids to professional ways. Watching game tapes. Analysing mistakes. New, dynamic warm-ups. Teamwork and, above all, trusting each other.
"The group of guys are getting on great. We may not be as talented as some of the European kids we will play but they are willing to learn and willing to listen. For many of the kids this will be the only time they will play for their country. A lot changes at 15,16. Your focus changes. Or you realise, you know what, the intensity is too much, I can't take this, I'd prefer to play for fun."
And the experience will shape attitudes and young lives.
"An experience of this intensity will make decisions for these guys when they come home. Some of these guys will come home with a voice saying 'I want to go again I want more of this.'
"Hopefully those are the kids, with the right coaching and with the right doors opened, that do have a chance. The next step is to get a college. DBS, DCU, UCD all offer scholarships. My school DBS have a great basketball programme with a lot of Americans coming in on scholarships.
"But most of them will have to try to get away to a college in the States. Some will do camps in the summer and get picked up. I have contacts in the States so I will try and connect up those that are at a certain talent level."
The majority, of course, won't make it. But at least one pathway has been reopened.
Baker admits the funding is a huge obstacle and the €2000 price tag means they are missing many great prospects.
"We are missing kids. In American, Nike throw everything at the kids. Someone else pays for the flights, the accommodation. But in these economic times, it's so tough to get anyone to commit to something like that. With Bernard now taking over with a commercial background, hopefully he can get money in."
Of course, cheques chase glory and Dave acknowledges a little pressure.
"A lot of things like sponsorships and future paths are dependent on success. If this team comes back with a big fat zero in terms of wins…."
He knows, though, that's not what it's really about.
"I'm hoping, firstly, the guys can keep away from injury. Then I want the kids to work as hard as they can. While they may not have had the contact hours, the funding, I know they will give 100 percent for their country when they walk out on that court. Hopefully, they will do their country proud.”
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/kJi_04gAZno/post.aspx
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