Margao
The National Games turned out to be a testing ground and good learning experience for Goan girls in basketball as where they stand in terms of standards in Indian basketball in comparison to counter parts from other states.
The Goans backed by an energetic crowd which consisted of parents and their family friends besides friends and siblings of the players, who made themselves heard at the Manohar Parrikar Stadium in Navelim.
“We are thankful for the parents and a lot of our Goan fans who came all the way from Panjim and also fans from the surrounding areas of South Goa who came in large numbers to support and cheer for the girls,” said coach Lambert Godinho.
“Yes, the crowd support is a good thing for the game of basketball, served as motivation and encouragement for the players to give their best. It also is a happy sign and an indication that the game is growing and more players from different parts of Goa are finding their way into the State team,” he added.
Lambert however said a lot needs to be done to take the game to another level if Goa are to make a mark at the national level in the state level championship.
“We need to improve a lot the physical part has to improve a lot and a little bit of the technical part we almost there but you need to improve on physical part of the game and strength has to improve.”
“The game sometimes become lot physical and that's the only area I feel we lack, once we improve on that we should be after all the top seven teams,” he added.
Lambert said the Goa Basketball Association is taking steps to spread the games and not just the cities.
“The association is taking steps now, slowly slowly they have started promoting basketball at the grassroots level and hopefully they will take it to the villages also.
“More the number of players playing, the better the quality we will get in the state team, right now the pool of players is a little less and I think they are on the job to increase the number of players.”
“We still need to involve more and more players, get more players to play the game so that we can improve our quality right now we have a very small talent group especially in the women's section so we are trying our best let us see what is in store,” he said on a parting note.
