Muggsy Bogues Shares Love Of Basketball Globally

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/01/15/2928189/bogues-shares-his-love-of-basketball.html#storylink=cpy

Former Hornet Travels Globe To Teach Basketball

Charlotte Observer, Rick Bonnell

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/01/15/2928189/bogues-shares-his-love-of-basketball.html

This was no scoot around the corner to pick up milk, bagels and the morning newspaper.

The shortest player in NBA history took his longest trip ever to coach a single afternoon of basketball. First, it was a two-hour flight to Toronto. Then a 7 1/2-hour flight to Brussels, Belgium. And finally an 8 1/2-hour flight to New Delhi.

All that to teach 75 kids from India how to dribble and shoot. No sightseeing, no banquets. And ex-Charlotte Hornet Muggsy Bogues loved it.

“I feel like this is my mission – to help introduce kids to basketball everywhere, Bogues said upon return from the quickest transcontinental trip imaginable.

Bogues was representing the NBA in the league’s ongoing effort to globalize basketball. India loves cricket, but Bogues says basketball is growing there. With such a large population (about 1.2 billion), India has to have plenty of athletes with unrealized hoops potential, just as China eventually produced Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian.

Bogues has the resume; he played 14 NBA seasons for four franchises, mostly in Charlotte, where he still lives. He coached the now-defunct Charlotte Sting of the WNBA. And now he’s coaching the boys team at United Faith Christian Academy.

But Bogues thinks the best thing he brought to that New Delhi clinic was his lack of height. At 5-foot-3, Bogues – and his story of unlikely success – is someone to whom many can relate. Kids aren’t intimidated the way they might be around some 7-footer.

The culture of the sport says there’s no place for someone my size, Bogues said. But if you pursue it, chase it, great things can happen.

“My presence is probably more powerful than anything I could say.”

Most of the kids at the clinic – ranging from around the fourth grade through high school – spoke at least a smattering of English, and Bogues had a translator with a background in basketball.

Naturally, the first thing Bogues taught was dribbling, the thing he did better than just about anyone in the day. Bogues constantly reminded kids they control the ball; don’t let the ball control them.

He was pleased how quickly some of them picked up his cues. Coaching is so essential in a skills-intensive sport. That’s the difference, Bogues said, in basketball 20 years ago and now.

“You can’t rely on just athletic ability anymore. The game is so much more well-rounded, Bogues said. That’s why information is so important. For the game to keep growing, we need sophisticated coaching all over the world.”

Not to mention Bogues’ backyard. The lesson he has learned from coaching at United Faith is kids don’t always grasp their place in the game and what they must address.

“Kids really haven’t been taught the game of basketball, Bogues said. They don’t learn how to be consistent – how to be the same player night-in and night-out.”

So there was no time to tour New Delhi or sample the cuisine. By late Monday afternoon – an hour or two after that clinic wrapped up – Bogues was boarding the first flight in the chain back to Charlotte.

The kids at United Faith, and consistency, needed him back.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/01/15/2928189/bogues-shares-his-love-of-basketball.html#storylink=cpy