US basketball coach in India to spot young talent

“Earlier,I only got a chance to work with a small number of sub-junior students. I’m here now to take a look at hundreds of kids,and put my eye on what types of programmes for what age group IMG can plan for the players,” said Barto today.

“Seeing the 18-year-olds at the Junior Championship,I want to note how the game of Indian youngsters develops at this age,and then see what we have to work on to make sure that the current 13-14 years olds can improve to a much higher level by the time they are 18,” he added.

He is also training 40 basketball coaches from around the country,who are attending the junior nationals,during his visit.

Today Barto worked with the coaches and some players to demonstrate the importance of improving a player’s athletic ability through skills training,working on skills such as ball handling,finishing around the basket,ball handling and finishing combos,and corrective shooting drills.

“I am very impressed by the coaches’ strong yearning for knowledge,” he said.

Speaking about the development of the eight Indian youngsters at the IMG Academy,he noted that they were at par with other players in the academy in skill levels but needed to improve their physique.

“For their age group,the Indian players are at par with any other basketball players we have at the Academy in terms of their coachability,discipline,and skill level. They have to work on their lower body strength now and are improving physically too.”

“At the IMG Academy,we are taking things to a higher level than 99 per cent of the schools in the country. The Indian kids will can three years of physical development in six months,” said Barto who has trained over 100 current or former NBA players and over 40 Division I players in the USA.