Coach calling out young basketballers

A Vincentian basketball coach in Taiwan is currently scouting for youngsters under 20 years for a school there that recruits foreign players.

Craiglee Sam, the head coach of both Glory Day Sports (GDS) and Grace Christian Academy (GCA) and the assistant basketball coach for Taipei American School, in an interview last week, told SEARCHLIGHT that he is working with the Basketball Federation’s president to “make ways” for players here.{{more}}

“I intend to keep in touch and give ideas,” Sam said, adding that he knows a lot of players here, who he is trying to work with to have year-round sporting programmes.

According to him, there are year-round programmes in Taiwan for children as young as three years old, who partake in sports, which is not the case here.

Sam, who is originally from Bequia, is a 2013 graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in Travel and Tourism Business after studying in Taiwan. On his three-week vacation here last month, Sam taught at schools both in Bequia and the mainland.

“I’ll be coming back every year, probably two times a year, where I will be taking part in those programmes – once we get them up and running,” he disclosed.

The coach said his school usually recruits about three foreign players and some Vincentian players have already showed interest.

“There are some guys that I’ve looked at since I’m home and I’m going to be working closely with them after they finish high school, because they must finish high school,” he added.

The 29-year-old said it is a completely different experience growing up in the sport in St Vincent than in Taiwan.

He said: “In Asia and those countries, especially in Taiwan, they play more outside basketball, where they shoot the basketball all night, compared us back home; we play inside basketball” – where shots are much easier to take.

Sam also noted that the “basketball attitude” towards the growth of the sport, is much higher in Taiwan, adding that, “it’s not that we can’t do it here, it’s just that we need the resources and we need a force in place to assist with that”.

He said that he hopes that persons in the community can work together as a unit to try building a system where children can begin playing at a young age.

“…I’ve already seen results… parents are talking to me, kids are talking to me, and high people in society are talking to me,” said Sam.

Having started playing basketball from age 14, Sam quickly progressed to playing for the St Vincent windward island team and Bequia national team and has travelled regionally and to South America with the NBA basketball ‘Without Borders’ camp.

From there he obtained a scholarship to a US college; after finishing there he returned to St Vincent and the Grenadines where he resided for a year.

While in St Vincent, Sam said his colleagues Jamali Jack and Kenton Chance, who were both studying in Taiwan at the time, contacted Sabrina Mitchell, who was, at the time, the president of basketball in Bequia and general cecretary of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) in the Caribbean, when a coach at their Taiwanese university indicated that he was interested in having basketball players from the region.

Sam said both himself and another resident of Bequia were chosen after sending video recordings off to the coach in Taiwan.

“We went over there, we played basketball, we won champions and took the team to another level,” he added.

Sam also studied for four years in Taiwan and now teaches basketball, soccer, yoga, and dancing, among other sporting activities. (AS)