Basketball–for most of us it is a popular game in the west and something we enjoy watching movies. However, it is a lot more than a casual sport for someone like Norman Isaac. He got a passion for sports from his family. Born in a family of sportspersons, it was natural for Norman to be inclined toward sports. His mother was a basketball player, his father represented the famous Nizam College in High Jump, Sprints, and various other sports. Norman’s grandfather too was a physical director for Wesley Boys School, Secunderabad, apart from being a certified tennis coach.
His parents introduced Norman to basketball as a pastime in the summer of 1977. He started playing at the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad’s (which is now called the YMCA) “catch them young” summer coaching camp. With time, this casual pastime turned into his passion for sports. Let’s dive deeper into his journey to understand this transformation.
Basketball Coach – Norman Issac
Norman’s interest in basketball increased with the interaction he had with more than a hundred kids who gathered there to learn the sport. His friendship with his seniors got him further interested in the game. He played even in his junior college for the Railway College team, accompanied by his seniors and mentors.
His passion for sports got Norman his first opportunity to play at the national level at the Pre-Asian Championship in 1980. There was no looking back from then. Norman played consistently from 1980 to 1992. After 1992, Norman did not play basketball at the national level.
When we are talking about an endless passion for sports, especially basketball, one question arises in all minds–What is the status of sports as a career? Norman says that the state of sports was better earlier, as many departments offered jobs based on sports.
Even today, he says, basketball may not be a career but can be great in building someone’s career. APSRTC, SBI bank, etc. had their own basketball teams, but the trend seemed to have died out with time. Now, it is only the Income Tax, Central Excise, and South Central Railway that have an official basketball team.
While Norman was pursuing his master’s in Communication and Journalism, he discovered that one can basketball as a career too. Was there someone who inspired Norman to take up basketball seriously and stick to it? Yes, it was Mr. GM Sampath Kumar and Godrej Irani coaches at YMCA, Secunderabad.
Norman and his fellow trainees really learned a lot under Sampath Kumar, a 45-year experienced passionate coach. The senior batch, which played along with them, was also a significant source of learning. Norman’s inspiration came not from a single source. Initially, his curiosity about why he shouldn’t take up basketball as a profession led him to take it up further. Gradually, his interest in the game grew when he and his team started winning local tournaments and he took up professionally.
Moments of Pride
The growth in his basketball career gave him many happy, proud, and exciting moments. Talking about a proud moment in his life, Norman said that winning the first National Championship at Naogaon, Assam in 1983. Also, when he played for Andhra Pradesh in the Senior National Championship in Mysore in 1987, he was elated. The team played in the semi-finals at this championship and lost to the Railways team. This was a colossal achievement for them as the team went up to the semi-finals for the first time after a gap of 25 years.
While he achieved these milestones during his time as a player, Norman did not give up on basketball even later in life. He became the coach of the Andhra Pradesh team from 1993 to 1996. The team took part in the inter-zonal championship and won it under Norman Isaac’s guidance. These, he says, are his memories as a coach and player in the world of basketball.
From the story so far, we can guess that not being selected for the Indian team was the most painful moment for the passionate Norman. Although he worked very hard for it, Norman was left disappointed. Apart from this, not winning the national championship at the senior level had brought some sadness into Norman’s life.
Some Inevitable Glitches
Since we have spoken about disappointments, let’s see how a determined sportsperson like Norman deals with hard times. Ask him this, and the passionate basketball player says, family. It has especially been his mother, and later his wife, who has given him the courage to come out of strenuous days and start playing again with the same enthusiasm and spirit. Norman’s passion was visible not only in the basketball court but also in the bank job he took up later in life. He says work and plays kept him so busy those days that he had no time for things like regret, sadness, or disappointment.
It is obviously hard for someone to give up on basketball, after having loved the sport so much. Age was catching up quickly, but his passion for the game helped Norman stay in touch with the game. So, he donned the hat of a referee. After being certified as a coach from the National Institute of Patiala in 1992, he took up coaching. Norman is a very player-specific coach. He observes the psyche of the players and coaches them accordingly.
His approach to NRI learners and long-term learners is very specific. Norman went a long way from being a player to a coach to a referee. With this, he moved to a more technical side of the game. Norman developed a keen interest in being a referee when Andhra Pradesh had nine international referees. So, in 1993 Norman qualified as a B panel referee and in 1996 they promoted him to be “A” panel referee. His first event as a referee was Kuala Lumpur’s Champions Cup in 2002. He was a referee and continued in that role till 2005. Within this span, he officiated at three Asian Championships.
Post this, Norman’s knee troubled him and did not allow him to remain inactive basketball. A requirement to pass a physical fitness test once in four years compelled Norman to take a backseat. Does that mean that basketball is out of Norman’s life? Not yet! In 2006, the formal player gave an exam to be a commissioner (a level above the referee) and passed it. Then came an opportunity in 2015 for Norman to be a Technical Delegate. In this position, he would look after everything that is required to conduct a championship.
This is a position that requires a renewal of license every two years. After his recent exam, Norman now has the license for a Technical Delegate till 2023. Here too, the work was not free of challenges. As a Technical Delegate Norman representing the FIBA, checks the uniforms of teams, their passports, coordinates with the local facilitators, and gets in touch with the medical team and the doping team. He carried out all these responsibilities in the best possible way.
Back in 2017, as the Telangana state Secretary, when Norman successfully raised over a crore of rupees to conduct 2 National Championships within 9 months, people misjudged his intentions and called him a money-minded person. Realizing that this was all part of the game, Norman continued to focus on basketball and his passion for sports. He feels a constant disappointment in not being able to convince players to play for Telangana and not for their own district.
Role As A Technical Delegate
Norman says going to the world cup in 2019 that was being played in a different format for the first time, representing one of the eight Technical Delegates nominated for the world cup, and meeting top players in China was an extremely exciting experience. Norman’s performance was being watched all the time. Post-semi-finals, he was told that he’s selected to be the Game Commissioner at the finals.
Norman’s passion for sports brought him a long way. His joy knew no bounds when he realized that he had achieved all this in his first championship itself. Recognition at the international level this early in his career is definitely commendable. This responsibility made him elated and nervous at the same time. Fortunately, however, everything went well in the last match between Spain and Argentina.
The Current Position of Basketball in India
The pandemic kept India out of the Tokyo Olympics, but Norman hopes that the Indian team will soon travel across the globe and make a mark in global basketball. Speaking about the current Indian basketball team that ranks 73rd in the world, Norman says there is a need to improve the infrastructure, commercialize the game, get the best coaches and increase sponsorship to make the Indian team a hit. He believes that the government, along with the corporate through their CSR program, must come forward in uplifting Indian basketball.
India being a crazy fan of cricket, there are few people or organizations that are interested in sponsoring a game of basketball. The low returns push the sponsors away. Norman feels the same about the remuneration to players. Since it is considerably low, most players lose their passion for this sport after securing a job. Few look forward to growing in the game.
Norman calls for proper and official demarcation of the 3 on 3 and 5 on 5 players. Right now, everyone is setting foot in everything, which is affecting the seriousness of the players towards the game, he believes. The professional approach is missing, says Norman. Indian basketball in an outdoor game on the concrete floor.
Contrarily, international basketball is an indoor game on wooden stages and Indian players need support to reach international excellence.
Norman’s Message To The Youth
Norman has a message for the young sports persons. He says sports develops you as a person, gives you an opportunity to interact with a wide variety of people, and helps you build, sharpen sports persons in your mind to take not just quick but accurate and spontaneous decisions and rebuild confidence from time to time. Sports also create good discipline in life, like it did in Norman’s. From the time he started playing basketball to this day, he follows the early to-bed-early to-rise rule.
This helped him in carrying out multiple responsibilities (as a branch head at the bank, as the head of YMCA, treasurer of his church, etc.) perfectly while continuing to play basketball. Even now, as the technical head of basketball in India, he continues to carry out his responsibilities in the best possible way, starting his day at 6 am and going back to bed at 11 pm. In his leisure, Norman becomes a passionate learner.
Money may be a major player in certain games, but each game is different. Norman specifies that talent does and should outplay the money, otherwise a lot of outstanding talent will be lost. Another reason he states an immediate shift of focus from money to talent is the short sports life of a player. The passionate basketball player emphasizes that helping people sustain in this brief span plays a crucial role. A good investment in basketball, its players, and the things related to the game is the need of the hour, according to Norman.
He says, with the right effort in the right direction for at least four to six years will take Indian basketball to the place it deserves to be in. This, he says, is the fate of hockey and handball in India. Norman believes that these two sports, along with Basketball have the potential to go very far in the world of sports. After putting so many years of tireless and passionate effort into basketball, Norman hopes to be remembered for his efforts in promoting the game. Let’s hope that his efforts will be paid off someday and basketball will become a popular sport in India.
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