Coaches’ Academy Goes Deeper Than Sports for Participants

Twenty-eight coaches from 12 different nations participated in the third annual Athletes in Action International Basketball Coaches’ Academy.

The coaches spent two weeks attending classroom seminars, high school and college practices, and games. They not only learned about teaching technique and coaching philosophy, the coaches also learned principles of leadership, team development, finding sponsorship and “building the infrastructure” of successful basketball programs in their home countries.

Edmon, from Zimbabwe, enjoyed the various methods of instructional time.

“This is the best type of training,” he says, “It is much better than just being in a classroom the entire time with chalk and a board, listening to a lecture.”

AIA’s global sports teams director Eric Nelson believes that in addition to the coaches being able to improve the state of basketball in their respective countries, Athletes in Action reaps significant benefits from the academy as well.
“These coaches are key people within their federations in their respective countries,” he says. “They are going to have a chance, when they go home, to lay a good foundation that will help AIA on a local level.”

Nelson was pleased with the overall outcome of this year’s academy.

“This year was more challenging than in the past,” he says. “Because there were more countries represented, and more languages, there were more challenges and our staff did an awesome job managing the logistics of the situation.”

Edmon believes what he learned at the academy about developing a program can help him overcome some of the socio-economic barriers that exist in his country.

“Basketball was considered as a sport for the elite,” he says. “It was for those who could afford to go to private school and university. But by learning how to access various resources in our country we can hopefully increase participation in our sport.”

Jomart, who hails from Kazakhstan, noted that he understood the importance of connectedness to the health of the sport in his native land. “To implement the kinds of systems we are learning about, during the games and outside the games, a lot of people have to be involved.”

Yousef from Jordan sees how the academy can produce benefits for the immediate future of basketball in his country.

“There are many programs in Jordan for younger players, but when they reach a certain age, the training is not so much,” he says. “Training like this for coaches, lets those coaches have a vision for older players and how to make them better players.”

During one of the “team times,” times where the coaches gathered to process the information they had been learning inside and outside the context of basketball, Nelson reminded the coaches, “The challenge is taking action from our vision.”

The team times included the spiritual and personal development components of the academy. The coaches explored how what they were learning at the academy goes beyond basketball.

Two members of the Colombian contingency—Mauricio Acevedo, and Piedad Douglas, the only female coach to attend this year’s academy—agree their roles as coaches go deeper than basketball.

“I am able to do ministry through sport,” Acevedo says.

“I can use basketball as a tool to teach people how to have a relationship with the Lord,” Douglas continues. “We use the time teaching basketball to help develop better human beings because at some point in time basketball will end for the individuals.”

Jacques Bahlize, who is a coach for the Rwandan Women’s National Team for the previous four years, believes teaching basketball goes hand-in-hand with spiritual development.

“Because everything comes from God, everything about basketball is spiritual,” Bahlize says. “In basketball you must share the ball, and do other things for your teammates to be successful, the same as sharing resources with everyone as they have need and caring for others because that is how we are successful in life.”

By Tommy Young, AIA Communications

Global | Sports Teams