Kilsyth Cobras basketball development manager Ben Turner meets coaching legend Bob Knight of the Texas Tech Red Raiders during a trip to the USA.Ben Turner of the Kilsyth Cobras shares his American basketball experience with The Mail.
FOR Ben Turner visiting basketball’s heartland – the USA – was a trip of a lifetime.
The Cobras basketball development officer visited seven cities in six weeks including Sacramento, San Francisco, Boston, New York, Lubbock, Louisville and Portland.
During this time Turner visited three NBA teams (Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics and Sacramento Kings).
He even got the chance to see a practice session with the Sacramento Kings.
But it wasn’t all just about basketball as Turner took the opportunity to take in ice hockey and NFL matches.
The trip gave him an inside look into both college basketball and professional sport in the USA and to create important network connections for future projects.
Turner said during his trip he met with both coaches and administrators at all levels of sport discussing the differences between Australian and American systems.
“The inside access to these organisation has given me a strong understanding of what it is required to take Australian community basketball to another level,” he said.
Turner says one of the many highlights of his trip was visiting Texas Tech University located in Western Texas in the city of Lubbock, where NCAA basketball coaching legend Bob Knight calls home.
“He is a pure teacher of the game, he coaches motion offence and man to man defence and has been a pioneer of this system.”
Turner says that coach Knight, for all his bad press, is a great ambassador for the game.
“He has contributed endless amounts of knowledge to the game and assisted coaches from all over the world to get better by allowing them to attend his programs,” Turner said.
Turner says his American adventure has given him a wealth of ideas to put in place in Australia’s sporting system
“We have a system of participation the Americans could only dream of,” he said.
“Our level of volunteer involvement and participative attitudes make Australian sport so strong.
“But, the resources available to American programs are significantly greater than in Australia and I will attempt to put in place some of the ideas that I have picked up,” Turner said.
