Former NBA Los Angeles Lakers star, David Lee Rivers has had an illustrious 17-year career which has seen him play many leagues in various countries and winning most of them — NBA, CBA, Euro, French, Greek, Turkish and Italian leagues.
In search of talent, the now coach travels to numerous countries. At the India basketball education-leadership clinic organised at the Nehru stadium, Rivers was enthusiastic about teaching kids the required skills of the game. “They are thirsty for right information and guidance. That’s the real challenge among coaches and the community. Give kids right information and let them grow up with it and be consistent. That is really why I am here,” the LA Lakers champion told The Hindu .
Rivers developed a relationship with the game as a six year old boy when his father bought him a basketball. As a kid he was inspired by Julius Erving (Dr J). He got drafted by the LA Lakers and with proper guidance and coaching, he became a world class player.
Achieve success
The 54-year-old Rivers, who plans to take kids to different countries as part of his academy, wants them to achieve success.“They will become role models for the younger kids because through our program they are going to be required to come back here. They got to come back here and give. Whether they end up in US, Canada, Europe wherever they go through our program and achieve success, requirement is to share what they learnt with these young kids (at home). That is the responsibility,” stated Rivers.
He emphasised as a player and coach, communication skills were of utmost importance but coaching was challenging, “Coaching is very easy if you are a good communicator. If your communications skills are great and if a player makes a mistake then you can get in their face closer and scream, yell at them but as long as they understand that you love them and care about them, they get the message.”
He added, “As a very young player I was taught that I would have to be a mom and dad to all of my teammates. One should become a student of the game to learn every aspect of it and develop a strong mindset to execute it. The mind is number one. At the end of the day the physical aspect is 15-20 per cent and the rest is all mindset.”
