Cultivate student athletes

THE concept of a student athlete is something Malaysia ought to look into if we are to see a successful all-rounder.

This is the advice given by Charlotte Hornet forward, Marvin Williams, as he was in town for the Jr NBA program last week.

“In the States, you have to be a student first. You can’t play sports without an education, so your grades have to be good for you to play.”

Williams, an African-American studies major at the University of North Carolina, stressed that education has always played a big part of his life growing up and this should be the case for the youngsters of today.

Aside from Williams’ urge for a need for the concept of a student athlete, NBA Asia basketball operations manager, Chris Sumner, stressed that Malaysia’s infrastructure in the sport has grown since 2014, the first time the Jr NBA program was held.

“I think the infrastructure from 2014 until today, it has grown leaps and bounds already.”

As the basketball operations manager, Sumner supports the continued growth of the league’s basketball development initiatives in Asia and wishes to see more happening especially from a grassroots level as he reckons there are still places Malaysia could go in terms of basketball development.

“Is there a place where we could be, yes.

“With the partnership with the Ministry of Education (MOE) and MABA’s (Malaysia Basketball Association) help, we are hoping to climb towards that way.”

Williams and Sumner were both present in One Utama, last Sunday, for the selection of 16 boys and girls who will be sent to Shanghai, China for an NBA experience in October. Farah Azharie