The first part of today’s article deals specifically with basketball and psychology and is adapted from the Spanish basketball website www.feb.es.

Most basketball enthusiasts are probably aware that Spain are the present world champions after having won the World Championships held in Japan last September.

There was great euphoria and celebrations in mainland Spain after this big success as Spain is a country with great sporting traditions but which many times failed to leave a concrete totally successful mark in major world competitions in many different sport disciplines.

Spain had a very good squad in Japan and were rated highly form the start, yet there were other powerful teams like the USA, Greece and Russia vying for the top spot.

Having had the opportunity to visit Spain a couple of time since the World Championships win, I can vouch that basketball has gained immensely in popularity as the Spanish have recognized that this sport has installed fresh pride in being Spanish.

The Spanish basketball federation has not been sitting still but is trying to reap good dividends from this upsurge in interest in the game.

Young children and kids are one of the federation’s main targets and one interesting programme that was carried out was the ‘Value of basketball’ programme. The idea here was that kids behave in a way to imitate these values which can be seen being displayed by the players in the national team.

The main term being projected in this programme is ‘respect and confidence’ as the latter made up a large part of the success that Spain’s national team had in Japan. The national coach, Mr. Pepu Hernandez and many of the players met the kids and helped them reflect on ‘respect and confidence’ through their own words.

Team captain Carlos Jiménez was the first to share his opinion about what basketball means to him and openly stated that when they first met their coach, everything was immediately focused on these two words, i.e. respect and trust and these laid the foundation of the eventual success.

Jimenez also pointed out that each respective player interpreted the coach’s talks in a different way since nobody is the same yet everybody accepted the concepts and this led to a great working environment in training and games.

Further on, Jimenez clearly displayed the importance that one, as a basketball player (or any sports for all that it may be) then faces responsibility and has to face each decision with determination by stating: …’responsibility is trying to do your job the best you can everyday. Fulfilling this value goes along with being a professional player, student, parent, or any other role in life. Teammates, coaches, and fans trust that you will do your job responsibly to help reach the common goal. Whether or not this goal can be met, has to do with other circumstances inherent and inbuilt into the game.’

The guard from Malaga, Carlos Cabezas, then continued to speak of the vision of basketball that those involved with Spain’s national team had upon conquering the gold medal at the world games in Japan.

For Cabezas, “Basketball is confidence. The ‘values of basketball’ led us to the number one spot on the podium. Basketball is confidence. Be sure of your decisions. Trust your decisions. That is the best way to be sure. Making decisions with confidence is a fundamental aspect of the game. It is also very important to feel supported by your coach and teammates. My way of understanding the game is based on making goals, and going to bed every night feeling sure that you have done all that you can to reach those goals”.

Commonwealth Games 2014 and basketball

Glasgow is aiming to make its bid to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games (the 2010 edition will be held in New Delhi, India, and basketball will (most probably) not feature amongst the sports after having been so successful in Melbourne last year when basketball was included for the first time ever).

However there was some controversy lately between the Scottish basketball federation and the bid coordinators.

Yet now it seems that one potential controversy to threaten Glasgow’s smooth-running Commonwealth Games bid will not come to pass (as reported on sport.scotsman.com).

Basketball Scotland (the country’s federation), upset that basketball is not included in Glasgow’s proposed programme for 2014, had threatened to support one of the rival bids, either Halifax or Abuja, if the Canadians or Nigerians included basketball on theirs.

Incidentally, last Friday, Halifax revealed its sports programme and as it happens, it does include basketball.

However the embarrassment of a Scottish sport governing body lobbying against Glasgow will be averted, after Basketball Scotland decided, at a recent board meeting, not to carry out its threat. The body has opted to keep a dignified silence, which could upset the international basketball federation (FIBA), which is keen for governing bodies to support bids with basketball.

Other than basketball, Halifax’s list of 17 sports is identical to Glasgow’s list of 17 sports. And here it definitely is a case of the national interest prevailing, with judo, a medals banker for Scotland, included in Glasgow’s programme and making way for Canada’s national game, basketball, in Halifax.