Higher bounce

NBA legend Robert Reid trains Indian basketball coaches.

NBA's Robert Reid, the one-time "king of rebound attack", is in Ludhiana with a mission to transform the mindset of Indian basketball coaches and players with the help of nine training sessions to be held at Guru Nanak Dev Stadium in the city.

The first move, actually, was made by Pargat Singh, former hockey Olympian and current director of the Punjab Sports Department, in association with Score, a Delhi-based event management outfit.

The sessions will be held from June 4 to 6. In nine training sessions, 72 coaches from the length and breadth of the country will get Reid's insights into the finer aspects of the game "" and coaching for the same.

Reid, now 51, has had a stellar career in America, having played as many as 13 National Basketball Association (NBA) sessions over 1977-1991, 11of them with the Houston Rockets. In his long career, Reid set many club records for shooting, rebounds, assists and steals.

Towering at 6' 8'', Reid is doing his utmost not to look domineering. "I promise you all that these three days are gonna be a whole lot of fun,'' he says, having greeted everyone around with a cheerful "Sat Sri Akal".

If truth be told, Reid adds, he'd wanted to be a musician more than a basketballer as a high school kid.

"I used to play a saxophone and was part of the school rock band. Playing drums was also one thing I was very good at. One day during our rehearsal, I had an argument with other band members. That was the day I first took a basketball in my hands. My height was an added advantage. I never looked back after that day.''

Sadly, he reflects, basketball in America is no longer what it was. "I was so sad when 99 per cent of NBA players refused to represent USA for the Sydney Olympics," he says, "Those guys play for money and nothing else."

Asked about the fee being paid to him for these training sessions, Sunil Yash Karla of Score says that it's less than what Mahendra Dhoni or Irfan Pathan would take for a one-day appearance.

But then, the man who holds the record of most offensive rebounds in an NBA final (11) would stir far fewer people in India than cricketers who flail their hair about "" or deliver even no-balls with elan.