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Reported by:
Mr. Lyndon Borrow,
DIBF Vice President
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Report on Deaf International Basketball Federation (DIBF) Deaf coach clinic/development seminar in Manla, Philippines, 8 - 10 September 2006.
Background
Early this year DIBF felt it was time to return to the Asia-Pacific region to conduct another deaf basketball coaches clinic and development seminar. We last attended this region in December 2002 in Beijing, China.
Our Secretary General, Kjell Gunna has been in contact with a number of Asia Pacific countries to test their interest to host. Philippines Federation of the Deaf (PFD) responded promptly and was willing to host the clinic and development seminar. Presently Philippines does not have a national deaf sports organisation as it has unfortunately collapsed a few years ago. The PFD have been working hard to get the deaf sports body back into the deaf sports world within PFD organisation.
Since the PFD agreeing to host the meeting, our Secretary General has been liaising with them and made formal arrangements. The PFD appointed Mrs Marites Racquel Corpuz to be the event co-ordinator for this clinic and development seminar in Philippines. Mrs Corpuz is also a Vice-President of PFD.
Mrs Corpuz was of great assistance in the promotion, planning, arranging accommodation and the venue for the clinic/seminar and contacting all the necessary people. I am very grateful to her and her assistants in making this a successful basketball coaches clinic and development seminar.
Location
The accommodation and seminar was located at the Richville Hotel and the training sessions were at Starmall basketball courts in the Mandaluyong City which is within the metro of Manila.
Mrs Corpuz initially tried to reserve the Philsport complex which she advised has better basketball facilities but unfortunately they were being refurbished. The Starmall basketball courts are only 8 minutes walk away from Richville Hotel. The courts and rings are satisfactory although it is an outdoor setting with concrete roofing. The flooring was concerning for us as it is solid concrete which poses higher risks of injury and discomfort compared to conventional basketball standard wooden floors. It was regrettable that one of the female participants in basketball training session had a bad fall injured her elbow which was dislocated and she was in excruciating pain. She was sent to hospital and discharged the following day with her arm strapped and returned to the seminar with a courageous face.
The theory sessions (seminar) took place in a meeting room at the Richville Hotel where we stayed. The meeting venue facility was very good and comfortable.
The accommodation at the Richville Hotel was very good and most rooms were air conditioned and clean. The meals were satisfactory although some would have preferred to dine-out on evenings for better quality meals.
Participants
There were 19 deaf coaches participants altogether – 2 were from Malaysia, 3 from Singapore, 2 from Hong Kong and twelve from Philippines with an average age of 27 years. On completion they were given signed DIBF certificate of participation.
We have had 16 young deaf basketball players from deaf schools - Philippine School for the Deaf and South East Asian Institute for the Deaf, as demonstration group lead by our coaching instructors. We were grateful to these schools for allowing them time off to participate in this basketball clinic for coaches to learn. The school kids obviously enjoyed it and they each received signed DIBF certificates for their involvement.
Aims and goals with clinic/seminar
The aims and goals of the DIBF seminar/clinics is in the first instance to provide deaf basketball coaches and leaders with the fundamental knowledge of how to lead a basketball group, to effect plans for training and practice, to develop deaf basketball in their home-countries and to give them self-confidence to approach hearing basketball associations to seek co-operation and guidance for their continued development.
Training - lectures
There were practical sessions everyday during the clinic/seminar between 10.00 - 12.00 hrs led by Irena Farincci and Samuel Quinn. Fortunately it was possible to have a group consisting of school youngsters helping us to show the clinic/seminar participants how to plan, construct and carry through programs for training sessions.
Between 14.00 - about 18.00 hrs everyday there were theory sessions led by myself. The lecture room was equipped with facilities enough to ensure a good review of the seminar content and smooth discussions.
During breaks and at the end of the theory session – I was glad to welcome and involve Dennis Tan, the Treasurer for Asia Pacific Deaf Sports Confederation and Chairman of Singapore Sports and Recreation Committee of the Deaf. Dennis gave a speech about the condition of Asia Pacific region and the Philippines itself for deaf sports and how we can improve. Dennis talked about his experience visiting 2005 Melbourne Deaflympic Games and showed the presentation slide with his laptop and data projector. Many participants had never seen the Deaflympic Games before and were very interested to see many people at the Games. Dennis also showed historic photos of deaf basketball teams during 1970’s including Philippines and Singapore.
Evaluation and feedback
Evaluation forms were handed out and all 19 participants completed them and advised us of our performance. The majority of the feedback was very good and positive. There were some suggestions as follows:
- In practice sessions – coaches should be more involved in planning the training programme rather than watching and listening to the coaching instructor all the time.
- Provide list of recommended books of coaching basketball.
- What to do after matches? What to do with players? How to do prep talk.
- How to organise the basketball tournaments.
- Nutrition information
FIBA Sponsor
The FIBA, through Jan Berteling, President of the FIBA Council for Basketball for Persons with a Disability, sponsored this clinic/seminar by contributing 100% of the expenses for our - coach instructors namely Samuel Quinn, Irena Farincci and myself as lecturer - travel and all seminar accommodation expenses and some other local expenses. Without this financial contribution from the FIBA I really doubt that this clinic/seminar would ever have been carried through at all.
Conclusion
The clinic/seminar was a great success and met completely with the aims and goals of the clinic/seminar that we had set. The participants were excellent and engaged eagerly in discussions showing much enthusiasm and a willingness to learn from the lessons.
The participants asked many questions during our time in Philippines. At the practice sessions, there were no standard leather balls. They used rubber basketball balls instead which is cheaper for them (leather basketball balls are quite expensive to purchase in Philippines) but it is not an appropriate ball to train with for the longer run.
I would like to forward my own deeply felt gratitude to Mrs Marites Racquel Corpuz and her assistants for their generous and open hospitality and their hard work for the seminar to be such a success. Many thanks also to the President of PFD – Mr Julius Andrada who arranged this special seminar and additionally gave us lift with his car from and to Manila International Airport. Also many thanks to Mr Raphael V. Domingo for handling the finances and receipts for DIBF Treasurer.
Respectfully submitted,
Lyndon Borrow
Deaf International Basketball Federation
Report
