Dubai
It’s exciting days for the Dribblers Basketball Academy as they prepare to take their academy teams on a maiden overseas tour to Sri Lanka for a tournament later this month starting from July 25.
The academy will be flying three groups of 12 each (Under 12 boys, U-13 girls and U-16 boys) who will play matches in Colombo and Kandy against top school and club teams.
Dribblers Academy began its operations three years ago and has seen a tremendous growth in a very short time. It was formed in May 2011 by Sujith Croos, a former Sri Lanka basketball captain and his wife Nirupa Croos who quit a bank job to take care of the Academy.
“We are excited about the tour. It will help the children in a big way and they will learn many things during the tour including team building, respecting others and making new friends,” said Nirupa.
“The kids are ready to put up a strong fight and they understand that they need to play like a team to succeed. We have been training hard and unity is their mantra,” said Sujith.
Sujith has represented Sri Lanka at youth level (1987 Sri Lanka Under 17 Asian Championship in Doha) and regularly at senior level from 1990-2000. He is also a bronze medallist at SAF Games in 1991 and taken part in Asian Basketball Championships in Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, India and Philippines.
“At the age of 15 I had dreams of becoming a basketball coach and it nearly ended when I relocated for employment to Dubai in 2000. I thought my dream of coaching was gone,” he said.
He rekindled his dream by starting to train those interested in the game free of cost in parks in Dubai in 2010. From a small group of eight, Dribblers Academy has swelled to 100 members including players from Sri Lanka, India, Egypt, Philippines and Pakistan.
The academy trains at the Mizhar Sports Hall three times a week and with the kids are between the age group of five to 18.
"I always had a dream to become coach first I started free classes. After that I wanted it to become more professional so started academy. It has increased and played several tournaments in Dubai. It is open to everyone and is a multicultural group," said Sujith.
The Academy has taken part in several local tournaments but this is the first time they will be headed to Sri Lanka.
Nirupa thanked the parents for their commitment and support to help the Dribblers to come to this level.
“We are happy with what we have achieved and if our efforts are benefiting the community it’s great,” said Nirupa.
“We have never advertised about our academy. It’s spread through word of mouth and they have kept recommending us.
“We also focus a lot on the fitness aspects. We not only teach basketball but we emphasise a lot on physical fitness. We give our boys a fitness chart to do at home,” Nirupa said on the Academy’s focus on fitness.
Boys Under 16 captain Navin Arukgoda said: “I have been coming to this academy for a long time. It's been fun. All the coaches really helped me to become better player
“I hope to play college basketball in the US and such tours should be of great help. We will be up against different teams in Sri Lanka and it’s surely going to be a different experience.”
