National team boo hoo (I'd rather have structure)
SAN JUAN (William Rosario's Somewhere in the Americas) - So Paco Olmos was fired this week as head coach of the Puerto Rico national team, and Sergio Valdeolmillos was fired a month ago from Mexico's national team. This means the coaches of the winners and runners-up at the 2013 FIBA Americas Championship are both out.
As with anything, some agree with the decision and some don't. Everything is put under evaluation and everybody gets to play fantasy general manager. Results are brought up, along with behavior, attitudes, physical language, perceived knowledge of the game and all kinds of stupid little things.
There are few that speak about the real truth underneath it all: national team results, no matter how good or bad they are… are about the past and most importantly, are about 12 players and a coach.
Both Puerto Rico and Mexico are good case studies on this matter.
More than 115 million people live in Mexico. Basketball is nowhere near being a top sport in a country that with the influence from the north would probably list the achievements of any NBA team over what their national team has done in the last couple of years. Suddenly, with the firing of Valdeolmillos, people seem to be up in arms about the future of the sport in Mexico. What?
As I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, I will be the first to criticize his firing on the basis of him being the coach that has won the most in the country's basketball history and deserving better. But what does it have to do with the future of the basketball in the general sense? How can a man, any man, and 12 players be given the responsibility of the future of a sport in a country? How unfair is that?
Puerto Rico on the other hand has only about 4 million people living on the island. Those are a fully engaged 4 million basketball fanatics though, which might be more than Mexico has altogether.
But Paco Olmos was not an issue to me. I had an opinion, an inkling that he might be fired and I understood the business part of it…but it wasn't my main concern.
To me, they don't matter in the big picture.
National teams are entertaining and the tournaments are beautiful to watch, but I have found out that they don't speak at all about the job being done by the national federation in the country for the good of the game.
And that's my biggest problem with these two firings. At the end of the day, bringing a new coach won't fix whatever is wrong with basketball in the country. Phil Jackson cannot fix Mexican or Puerto Rican basketball right now. A national federation with vision and structure is needed to make that happen, along with a couple of additional factors.
A national federation is responsible for structuring, building, playing and promoting the game in the country. I did not just come up with that. It is actually in a very complete 333-page manual developed by FIBA to help and guide these organizations grow the sport in the correct way in their countries. This is a public document that you can find if you type FIBA and NATIONAL FEDERATIONS in any search engine.
The manual goes through everything, from drafting a constitution to planning a strategy, financial management, mini basketball, talent identification, competitions, branding the sport, media relations, selling to sponsors, event management and television.
It has been sent to every national federation and is very easy to find.
I have had the privilege of working with the majority of the national federations in the Americas and I cannot honestly say that there are more than five of them even close to having the structure and vision needed to do things the right way. Be it lack of knowledge, unprofessional or underprepared personnel, not a lot money, difficult political situation, etc. But they are not in the position to grow the sport in any way, shape or form in their respective countries. And that is a true shame.
None of the people in these leadership positions - and I have met them personally - want to do harm or set back the sport in their country, but their priorities are out sync with the realities of basketball in 2014.
Today, everything cannot be about winning. All of us involved in basketball need to collectively ask for national federations to have the right basketball culture and structure in place for the sport to be constantly evolving, constantly played in the country and in turn constantly producing talent in every department: players, coaches, referees and administrators.
For example, both Mexico and Puerto Rico made it to the FIBA Basketball World Cup, but if you ask any knowledgeable international basketball mind, with the mess in both federations, would they trade places with where Canada is at the moment?
Canada although it did not qualified to Spain 2014, has been doing things the right way in every aspect of that FIBA Manual. Basketball grows by the minute in the country. So would you rather play the World Cup and be continually disappointed in the decisions your national federation makes?
I don't know, I'd trade places right now if I were Puerto Rico or Mexico, or Argentina for that matter. I'd rather cheer for a national team that is a true representation of the correct structure going on at every level of basketball in my country.
I love basketball, and seeing it handled the right way... above everything else.
William Rosario
FIBA
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