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  • Satnam Singh Bhamara, 7ft - 14year old from India





    Reporting from Ballo Ke, India — Satnam Singh Bhamara stares down at his feet. At size 22, there's a lot to stare at.

    The 14-year-old is already 7 feet tall and weighs 250 pounds. To say that he stands out from the other boys in this remote Punjab village, population 463, is like saying that Everest is a rather tall mountain.

    After its runaway success in China, the NBA has turned its sights on India. But basketball is not terribly popular here; as one sportswriter says, "genetically, we're not inclined that way."

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    But what if you could find an Indian version of Yao Ming, the 7-foot-6-inch Houston Rocket center who jumpstarted the Chinese game? His signing led to lucrative broadcasting and sponsorship deals, skyrocketing apparel sales and millions more fans.

    "The Yao Ming factor is crucial," said Ayaz Memon, a sports journalist.

    From Ballo Ke, local scouts dispatched Satnam to a regional basketball academy where, over the last four years, he worked to develop skills to match his height, leading some to call him India's best young player. This month, the young giant will head to the IMG Basketball Academy in Florida, which is sponsored by a U.S. talent agency.

    "If God keeps blessing us, one day he'll play on the Indian national team, even the basketball world cup," village elder Aatma Bhamara said, his unfamiliarity with the name "NBA" suggesting that the Americans have their work cut out for them. "He's putting our village on the map."

    NBA officials say Satnam may or may not be the one, but they're determined to build a sport that was introduced to the country by missionaries in 1903, and today is played, enthusiastically if not always well, by a few million Indians (which may sound like a lot, but in a country with 1.2 billion people, it remains a niche activity).

    They maintain that India, with its emerging middle class, rising disposable income and media-savvy youngsters, has the raw ingredients to take off as a basketball market.

    "We see great opportunity in India," said Akash Jain, the league's director of international development for India. "Sometimes you find a diamond in the rough if you're lucky.... But our focus is long term."

    Perseverance and a healthy budget — the NBA won't disclose its spending — will be indispensible in a country known for bureaucracy, poor infrastructure and a weak sporting culture apart from the national obsession, cricket. India won a single gold medal in the 2008 Olympics, whereas China, another developing country with an enormous population, snagged 51.

    Most schools here lack sporting facilities, let alone basketball courts, with sports often viewed as an unwelcome distraction from studying.

    Take Ushan, in neighboring Rajasthan state, one of India's 600,000 villages. At Ushan's one-room school, there's no toilet, no playground and no physical education teacher. Without a shower, students don't want to play sports in the heat and return to class sweaty. Most are poor and own only one set of clothes.

    Girls face added cultural barriers. In those few areas boasting state basketball academies, parents balk at letting their daughters leave home to get physical training, fearing that it could ruin their marital prospects.

    "It's a mind-set problem," said Teja Singh Dhariwal, head of the Punjab Basketball Assn.

    The state-funded Ludhiana basketball academy, which Satnam attended, is among the best in the country. On a recent Saturday, potential recruits, several taller than 6 feet, did sprints, dribbling exercises, layups and defensive drills with reasonable skill.

    To attract young prospects like Satnam, the academy advertises the sport: "Tall? Give basketball a try!" But most recruits are teenagers, a bit late to start playing if the aim is to play at top levels.

    "You can teach them skills," said Sankaram Subramanian, head coach of the Ludhiana basketball academy, who honed his own game playing American U-2 pilots based in India during the 1950s. "But teaching them to think, to conceptualize, takes time."

    The NBA has vowed to make basketball India's second-most-popular sport after cricket within four years, leapfrogging over soccer and field hockey.

    "We're very sure it's a viable goal," said Harish Sharma, head of the Basketball Federation of India.

    Last month, the NBA brought over Lakers forward Pau Gasol to lead clinics in Indian schools. It has also helped develop a community league, the Mahindra NBA Challenge, in three cities, with plans to add seven more. It is training coaches, has set up a website and last year built five showcase courts, hoping to persuade the government and private developers to build more.

    "We are extremely focused on our global growth, but we are prioritizing India," said NBA marketing executive Heidi Ueberroth, Peter's daughter.

    Doubters here have snickered at the system that created Yao, who was essentially bred for the game after Chinese sports officials urged his basketball player parents, China's tallest couple, to marry and create a "super" offspring. Later, he was taken from his parents and raised by coaches, then required, on joining the NBA, to give half his salary to the state.

    "We're not likely to get a magic player like these Chinese freaks of nature," said Gulu Ezekiel, a cricket analyst. "It will only be popular among the Indian elites, a small percent with access to cable TV."

    Supporters counter that average heights are increasing rapidly with better nutrition and that the game's simple equipment makes it ideal for the masses.

    The NBA also has global buzz that could catch on quickly, they say. At the Ambience Mall in Gurgaon, near New Delhi, Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard swayed his hips last month and did a couple of dunks at a portable court before a cheering crowd as pounding pop music blared.

    All the while, the hunt continues for a superstar-in-the-making.

    "If we find an Indian Yao Ming, I'll do a Bollywood dance," said Andrew Borman, director of the IMG Basketball Academy in Florida.

    Subramanian, Satnam's former coach, said the boy has a shot at the NBA, although he lacks some of Yao's agility.

    Back in Ballo Ke, Satnam stands beside his 5-foot-2-inch mother and 7-foot-2-inch father, who is immensely proud of his son, but rues his own fate.

    "I wish someone had told me about basketball," said Balbir Singh Bhamara, who comes from a line of unusually tall people — his mother is 6 feet 9. "I could've gone to America too."

    Satnam, the middle of three children (both siblings are average height), said basketball sure beats farming and he hopes he can make a career of it, although he'll follow his parents' advice. He has been able to watch a few NBA games on television, he said, and his favorite player is Kobe Bryant.

    Despite being one of India's hottest prospects, he's still very much the naive village boy, coaches and sports officials said, and studying has never been his strong suit. He speaks minimal English and still makes the occasional 13-hour trip to New Delhi on dingy buses, where he has to sit on the wide back seat because it's the only one big enough for him.

    "He comes back to get his dirty clothes washed," said his father, a bit stooped after years of manual labor, standing beside the family buffaloes. "And to drink huge amounts of local milk."

    As Satnam walks around the 600-year-old village pointing out his primary school, the general store, the bus stop, he is soon shadowed by a parade of children, like a gigantic Pied Piper.

    No one else in the village plays basketball, but the 7-footer hopes to change that.

    "If I really make it big one day, my dream is to come back and build the village a court," he said. "Then hopefully more people will start playing, like me."

    Last edited by DarknessFalls; 09-12-2010, 09:09 AM.

  • #2
    Great news, IMG Academy is a great academy, each year several players from the academy obtain NCAA scholarships. It will be a great opportunity for Satnam to improve his basketball skills. I wish him all the best in Florida.

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    • #3
      Is it just me or he doesn't look 14 years old?
      Die Liebe wird eine Krankheit, wenn man sie als eine Heilung sieht
      Artificial Nature

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by rikhardur View Post
        Is it just me or he doesn't look 14 years old?
        that's what i was going to ask . He looks like he's in his early 20's to me .

        Comment


        • #5
          He should start training with the Young Cagers of India team and that would benefit his development tremendously. Maybe not today but when he turns sixteen.
          Sacramento Kings
          HERE WE STAY UNTIL THE COWBELLS COME HOME

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          • #6
            That "Chinese freaks of nature" comment is uncalled for, but other than that, best lucks to him, but so far no video or other objective measure to see how good he really is. Judging from his father's height he may be a natural, that is, not suffering from gigantism or other hormonal disorders that usually do not bode well for a basketball career.

            PS: Anyone from India knows what happened to this giant?
            aim low, score high

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            • #7
              Originally posted by sinobball View Post
              PS: Anyone from India knows what happened to this giant?
              http://forums.interbasket.net/f72/vi...rs-8-foot-403/
              He died a couple of years ago.
              Die Liebe wird eine Krankheit, wenn man sie als eine Heilung sieht
              Artificial Nature

              Comment


              • #8


                I hoped that he's mobile enough to play basketball.
                Follow my blogs and tweets. http://dxjayrocksnotes.blogspot.com/ and https://twitter.com/dxjayrock


                Road To Rio 2016.

                Kwentong Gilas ~ Gilas Serye. LMAO!!!

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by sinobball View Post
                  That "Chinese freaks of nature" comment is uncalled for, but other than that, best lucks to him, but so far no video or other objective measure to see how good he really is. Judging from his father's height he may be a natural, that is, not suffering from gigantism or other hormonal disorders that usually do not bode well for a basketball career.

                  PS: Anyone from India knows what happened to this giant?
                  http://forums.interbasket.net/f72/vi...rs-8-foot-403/
                  Yes, maybe you are right. But, as China rises, or even if East Asians do well in sports, it is only going to get worse, so there is no need to defend yourself against every wrong or bad thing that happens to you. It is not weak if you do not do so, and if you do so, it could backfire and work against you, and end up turning other people against you, and make other people do more bad things to you, instead of making other people do less bad things to you.

                  So, it is better to lay low, and to learn to tolerate it in silence. Take my advice: if you do not, you might bring down other people more on yourself or perhaps even others even harder, accidentally without you deliberately trying to, and also without them even knowing it, and also, might get other people in trouble, and put them at risk for harm, or even harrassment. Believe me; it's happened to me before.

                  It's better to understand the situation, have some moreality, forgive the people who say those kinds of things to you and forget their wrongs towards you, even if they hurt you, even if they fool others into believing that you're worse than you really are, put more faith into yourself in order to make yourself braver and more courageous in order to believe you can overcome any odds to accomplish what you want in life, and also to use other people's criticisms and rebukes of you to correct yourself, and to make yourself better, and to improve yourself.

                  Also, it is better not to fight the people who do those things to you, as it only makes it worse, and for them to do even more bad things to you, and to gain more belief in yourself, and drive, determination, motivation, and persistence, and consistency, and to develop a strong spirit so that you can be strong and capable enough to overcome the incredible odds against you.

                  Also, you don't have to believe all the negative things that everyone says about you when thery say stuff like, "you can't make it, you can't do it, you're inferior, etc.". Use others as an example. As this happens more and more to East Asians, you can't fight them all. All you have to do is not believe it, and keep working to succeed. You should believe all the positive beliefs that are out there that are Good, and that strengthen you, and you should also believe those positive beliefs about other people and support them. It helps to become popular the right way, by being nice, because who knows who you might meet or need along the way. Also, when being nice, it helps to be nice from the inside-out, and not just be nice on the outside, but bad on the inside. Because, too much of that fake and cheating stuff underneath the surface, and eventually everyone finds out about it, and turns against you. So, it is good to be real and genuine.

                  So, you should not worry about all of that anti-Asian stuff going on. Put your faith into yourself, without developing a superiority complex, a "big head", and arrogance, and develop a strong, capable, spirit, to believes you can overcome all the odds, despite all the odds against you, and let other people do what they want. Remember: "the only one who can defeat me is me", "Your greatest enemy is between your two ribs"--Mohammed, and "Know that your greatest enemy is yourself"--Sun Tzu. Just develop a strong, brave, courageous, unoppressive, warrior-like, manly spirit, and you can still succeed, be blessed, and you will be in a position where you won't be affected negatively by what the negative things that other people say or do to you anymore.

                  The only one who is constantly offended by every small wrong is a weak, not very nice, arrogant, too hard, not very humble person, who can't coprrect himself, and can't adjust, improve, or better himself. And that kind of person will never succeed in life, and will only know pain and failure in life.

                  This is what I believe, and regardless of what other people's responses are to this post; I believe that I am correct, and that the people who oppose this post just trying to start trouble for me.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Satnam Singh: Larger than Life


                    The first thing I notice is his shoes. Size 22, made of some obscure shoe brand that I haven't heard of. That is the first thing I ask him, too, and he confirms to me that they are custom made. "Straight from Amreeka!" he says. He confirms that he has another, better pair coming his way. Sure enough, the next time I meet him, he is sporting a pair of black Nikes. Size 22.

                    I shake his hand and watch my fingers disappear behind his monstrously large grasp. When we disengage, I'm relieved to have my hand back unharmed. It seems that Satnam, still only 14, has learnt to exert minimal pressure during introductory handshakes, because a casual clasp by him could mean certain broken bones for us mere average-sized mortals.

                    Meet the Satnam Singh Bhamara of the Past: a village boy, a son of a farmer and carpenter from the middle of nowhere in Punjab. His home address has no house number, just a family name and the name of their village,'Ballo Ke'. "District Barnala," he adds, and then he says a few other things in Punjabi so thick that I had to occasionally call on a translator (and I call myself a Punjabi - tssh!). I'm not ashamed though, because even a pucca Punjabi would be confused with his thick accent; his words come out muffled, half-eaten on their way out of his giant mouth.

                    Until the age of 10, Satnam was just an average youngster who attended a village school and brought refreshments to his father who was hard at work at the farm.

                    Well, not completely average: Mr. Bhamara Senior stood an imposing 7 foot 2 inches; his 10-year-old son, who seemed to be following in his father's giant footsteps, was already 5 foot 9 and a big, broad, beast of a pre-adolescent. Satnam had never even heard of this game called 'basketball'; not until one of this father's friends saw him and recommended that he take the boy to Ludhiana and teach him the game.

                    Satnam only needed a few years of work before his coaches realised that there was more to his skill than his size. He was soon a natural, and like every young player, still fondly remembers his first dunk (age 13). He grew a ridiculous 15 inches in four years, and after blazing his way through all the sub-junior competitions, he forced his way into the Youth (U16) team.

                    Meet the Satnam Singh Bhamara of the Present: still four months shy of his 15th birthday, Satnam now stands 7 feet tall. He's already made a name for himself in the Indian basketball circles across the country. After blazing his way through the Punjab inter-school and junior leagues, Satnam began to collect his international credentials. He represented Indian in the FIBA Asia U16 Championships at Malaysia in November 2009. Back home, he took Punjab to the gold medal of the National Youth Championships at Trichy (Tamil Nadu) in June.

                    There was no more doubt it - the son of a farmer, who would've had a hard time pronouncing 'basketball' four years ago, had become the country's best young player. Satnam's success led him to be recommended by the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) to be part of a three-player contingent of Indian youngsters sent to Singapore for the NBA's Basketball Without Borders (BWB) Asia camp, which featured 44 junior boys from 19 different countries in Asia and Oceania.

                    And then came the biggest step yet - barely returned from his BWB experience, Satnam was again nominated amongst 50 of the country's best sub-junior players to take part in a tryout for the IMG Basketball Academies in Florida, USA. Sponsored by IMG-Reliance, expert coaches from IMG descended down to Delhi to watch the Indian youngsters slog it out for two tough days in late July. Only eight of the 50 were to be chosen. Satnam was taller, stronger, bigger than the rest.


                    When the final list was released, not one was surprised to see Satnam's name amongst the eight. Dan Barto, who is a basketball coach and athletic trainer from IMG, admitted that the youngster was an "intriguing" prospect. By the end of the August, Satnam will be taking his talents to Bradenton, Florida, where he has been fully sponsored to stay as a student-athlete at the IMG Academy, perhaps the best multi-sport training facility in the world. The Basketball Academy at IMG has featured the likes of Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter, Chauncey Billups, Joakim Noah, Kevin Martin, Jrue Holiday, Earl Clark, Kyryl Natyazhko (freshman at the University of Arizona), Dwight Powell (committed to Stanford), and others.

                    His world about to turn upside down, Satnam seemed surprisingly bindaas about things. He had a childish exuberance about him, and then I remembered that's because he is still only a child!

                    I ask Satnam if he follows the NBA.

                    "Yes," he answers.

                    "Which is your favourite team?"

                    Satnam looks a little embarrassed. "I don't know, whichever team Kobe Bryant plays for."

                    "Oh - Lakers," I laugh, "But shouldn't you like a player closer to your size. A centre. Kobe Bryant must look small to you."

                    I shudder as I say that. If Kobe friggin 6 foot 6 Bryant is small compared to him, I'm closer to being a Leprechaun.

                    "What about Shaq?" I ask.

                    "Oh, ya, Shaq!" his eyes light up - Shaq seems to have that effect on people - "I like Shaq! And that other guy who is coming here - what's his name?"

                    "Dwight Howard," I tell him.

                    "Yes, Dwight Howard. I want to meet him."

                    I remind Satnam that he's bigger than Dwight, too. He may not garner the same kind of attention that 'Superman' did during his visit to India, but Satnam has his own little celebrity legend. He gushes and tells me how strangers ask him for autographs and ask to touch him. He tells stories of how he has to struggle and fit on a bus seat from Delhi to Ludhiana, and how people on the bus line up to photographs snapped next to him.

                    But despite his growing popularity, the young man-child has managed to remain humble. Credit his farm upbringing, the advice of his many coaches, and the fact that a committed basketball player rarely has time to concern himself with other things. In Satnam, India has been blessed with a hell of a committed player.

                    "I'm very fond of this game," Satnam says, "It was given me so much, and I want to continue improving."

                    Before he took claim to the giant centre position on the floor, Satnam was initially trained to play as a forward. His early training shows - he is an efficient shooter from the three-point range and says that his strongest feature is probably his ability to drive the ball in. With size came the evolution of polishing his post-up game and making him devastating on the defensive end of the floor as a rebounder and a shot-blocker. Few brave souls would dare run full speed into this giant brick wall guarding the basket.

                    "I still have to improve my dribbling though," he concedes.

                    More than any one specific thing, I believe what Satnam needs is experience playing games at the highest possible level for his age, and this is where his stint with the IMG Academy will be nothing short of life-changing.

                    So what will we see in the Satnam Singh Bhamara of the future? If all goes as scripted, he has the potential of becoming one of the finest Indian players of this generation, if not one of our brightest prospects ever. Alas, few scripts in real life have this kind of filmy ending - in Satnam's case, each Indian fan will be hoping for the holy grail of basketball for him.

                    "NBA... That is my dream," Satnam admits, "I want to play in the NBA."


                    He has ambitious dreams, but the NBA is the toughest of all basketball nuts to crack - time will tell if he will ever become good enough to ever play there. Fortunately for Satnam, all the signs are pointing the right way. His greatest assessment came out of a man who knows a thing or two about basketball talents. Troy Justice, the NBA's Director of Basketball Operations in India, worked with Troy and the rest of the Youth team at Ludhiana a few weeks ago. "If I could, I would work with this kid every day," Troy said, "He can be the chosen one for basketball in India."

                    Those size 22 feet have come a long way from the village to the basketball court to one of the world's greatest academies. Now, Satnam Singh Bhamara has the opportunity to do something a giant of his size rarely has the opportunity to do - look up, even above himself, and dream!
                    The first thing I notice is his shoes. Size 22, made of some obscure shoe brand that I haven't heard of. That is the first thing I ask hi...

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Karan Singh (two-year old & already 4ft 5i)



                      Weighing in at a burly 7 stone and standing 4ft 5in tall, two-and-a-half-year-old Karan Singh is believed to be the tallest toddler in the world.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        satnam singh is now in florida training at img academies. ive heard hes put up some decent numbers in scrimmages, but he is still a project, and this reminds me of a science experiment taking a tall person and trying to turn them into a basketball player, rather than a basketball player who happens to be tall.

                        as far as him signing w young cagers of india, the NT, i disagree. if he does that he gets no coaching or competition. because national level basketball in india is well below average. theres no pro league, for example. young cagers train sporadically with long gaps bewteen comeptitions and they arent paid very much.

                        i think he should focus on doing what alot of young intl players have done, which is try to come to usa and play d-1 college hoops and get 3-4 years of good coaching.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          7-foot 14-year-old from India is ready to follow in Yao's footsteps

                          Size, in and of itself, is no guarantee when it comes to trying to predict NBA stardom. Or even a chance at an NBA roster.

                          Through the years, we've seen countless 7-footers from several countries fall short, so to speak, time and time again when it comes to trying to hold their own at the NBA level. The Americans clearly lead the league in failing at this aspect, but a dozen other countries have flubbed as well.

                          One country that hasn't taken to the ring, or the court, yet? India. And though this massive nation hasn't had a player play or even be drafted by an NBA team, it's not easy to see why Satnam Singh Bhamara might not be the exception to the rule. After all, the 7-footer has scouts drooling over his skills.

                          The catch?

                          He's only 14.

                          But he's also 7-feet tall.

                          Once again, if you missed that: 7-feet tall, and 14 years of age.

                          Tim Povtak of FanHouse has the story:

                          "Satnam is on track to be a very, very good long-term basketball player,'' said Dan Barto, director of player development at IMG Basketball Academy, who recently returned from India where he conducted several coaching clinics. "His biggest weakness now is our biggest strength here when it comes to developing players -- neuromuscular firing -- overall body control. His potential is pretty amazing.''

                          That potential starts with his size, which is incredible itself. At age 14, he is expected to grow for another couple of years. For now, he wears a size-22 basketball shoe. His hands swallow the ball. His father, Balbir Singh Bhamara, is 7-2. His grandmother on his father's side is 6-9.

                          He already has a man's body with broad shoulders and a thick chest. Although his leg strength is not good yet, there is nothing skinny about him. Through the normal maturation process -- if he continues to work -- he should become quite a specimen in the next five years.

                          It's a bad joke at this point, but if you're a 7-footer and you can walk and chew gum, then you have a shot at the NBA. And, to be fair, most of the 7-foot NBA washouts just didn't have the coordination needed to compete at this level.

                          But if the quotes behind this story are any indication, and they do remind about what we were told about Yao Ming over a decade ago (Yao, lest you forget, averaged 25 points and 9.4 rebounds three years ago), so it's something to get giddy about.

                          Work on that drop step, Satnam.

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by serbianhoops View Post
                            two-year old is already 4ft 5in
                            That's ridiculous. And his mom is 7ft 3in, that's even more ridiculous.

                            I hope he gets exposed to basketball early. I'm reminded Sun Mingming wasn't even "discovered" by basketball people until he was 19. Before, he never even heard of basketball, in his poor village.
                            aim low, score high

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                            • #15
                              At only 14 years and 7 feet, he could easily grow to be 7'4"-7'6". Although he would probably be better off physically, if he only grew to around 7'2" or 7'3". Unfortunately as we've seen with Yao and other players who are extraordinarily tall, that extra height tends to put a strain on the legs, feet or back.

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