By Ong Han Sean | Friday September 20, 2013
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| Training to shoot: Wong (centre in white) coaching schoolchildren to shoot hoops. |
KUANTAN: “While basketball is normally associated with the Chinese community, the scene could be improved with more participation from the other races,” said AND1 Streetball Challenge tournament director Wong Wing Wai.
He said there was a large untapped talent pool as the Malay community make up the majority in the country.
“If more Malays started picking up basketball, I am sure we will be able to see some talented players emerge.
“This would be beneficial to the local basketball scene as it will make our national team stronger,” said Wong after coaching SJK(C) Semambu students in a basketball clinic held in conjunction with the tournament.
He said the states could certainly do more in developing players at the grassroots level.
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This is how its done: Wong (in white) showing a student the
correct form to shoot a basketball.
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“I think there needs to be more grassroots coaches to build up the players while they are still in schools.
“I hope all states can at least contribute players to play basketball at the national level,” he said.
Wong added that he would like to see non-Chinese players take part in the AND1 Streetball Challenge to be held at East Coast Mall on Sept 29.
The Kuantan edition of the tournament will see players duke it out in three-on-three games in four categories with the winning team standing to win RM900 in cash.
The champion team from the Boys Under-18 category will also get to competein the grand finals.
During the clinic, Wong showed the 30 schoolchildren basic shooting and dribbling skills and tested them out in knockout games.
