The first basketballscotland Regional Academies event of 2019 – supported by TBR Global – was a huge success over the weekend as in excess of 150 young players gathered at Bathgate Academy.
With boys attending on Saturday and girls on Sunday, the players were split into groups and had their skills challenged at seven work stations throughout the day. With eight Scottish regions being represented, the players were split into mixed groups to help build communication skills and teamwork.
Each work station focussed on a key skill, including shooting, dribbling and passing. Each station was taught by coaches from the different regions. Whilst six of the sessions focussed on on-court skills, one station was taken in a classroom as players discussed setting goals, motivation and the importance of self-assessment.
On Saturday, Commonwealth Games athlete Chris Cleary joined the coaching group to help the young players work in a 3v2 scenario.
Chris also told the players his basketball story and answered a range of engaging questions from the floor:
“ [I told them] you’ve got to take every opportunity as it comes. I was a footballer until I was 16 so I didn’t really touch a basketball until that age. I wish I had the opportunities the kids have now as basketball has really given me everything.”
The players will return to Bathgate on the weekend of 8th and 9th of June for a second weekend of action.
