Veteran backs decision to postpone Olympics
WITH basketball in limbo I’m going to provide a series of Q&As with players and officials over the coming weeks.
First up is former Tall Blacks captain and Gold Coast Blaze NBL star Pero Cameron, now head coach of the New Zealand national team and a recent inductee into the FIBA Hall of Fame.
The Olympics mean a lot to you. How many have you been too? Do you think pushing it back is a good idea?
I’ve been to two Olympics as a player and I was really excited about our group making a push this year. I think it’s the right decision to push it back, to give everyone time to prepare properly. This COVID-19 is bigger than sport, we need to be smart and do the right thing. What are elite athletes going to do now?
A lot of our international players from Europe have returned home due to COVID-19. I’m staying in touch with them, keeping their fitness levels up in isolation, however possible.
As head of Hillcrest Christian College’s basketball program, what are you directing your juniors to do?
There’s a couple of online programs out there. Keeping kids busy at home, having an active mind and body is crucial for development. Burning their energy will help everyone. I hear you are releasing some instructional videos through Gold Coast basketball next week – why?
We’ve got a lot of footage we are making user-friendly. Not every child has access to a hoop. Self-training or isotraining can be done regardless if you have a ball or not.
Stay safe, Gold Coast, we’ll get through this together.