Plenty of hoop for Indian basketball: Cash

MUMBAI: It all started with a wooden crate in downtown Mc-Keesport in Pennsylvania. With no basketball courts available, a teenaged Swintayla Marie Cash and her friends fashioned a hoop on their own to start playing in the evenings.
What started as a three-a-side backyard game, changed Swintayla's life and transformed her into WNBA star Swin Cash.Now, a two time Olympic gold winner, business woman, actress and a globetrotter, Cash travels across the world trying to introduce kids to the game that consumed her.
"When I was a kid, we did not always get a proper court to play. So my friends and I used to take an old crate, cut out the bottom and put it up over a wall and we had our court.
I picked it up from my neighbourhood," says the 34-year-old Chicago Sky forward. "All that the kids need is an introduction to sport and that will give them an opportunity to take it to their respective neighbourhoods. It starts like that."
In India to kick off the first Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA Championship, Cash interacted with numerous wide-eyed school kids at Dominic Savio school, Andheri, who braved the scorching sun to pick up skills and techniques from the strapping six feet two inch star.
Since its launch in October, the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program has seen over 100 schools and 60,000 youth participate across three cities (Mumbai, Kochi and Kottayam).
"As a professional athlete I feel that with visibility comes responsibility. It is my responsibility to always give back. Me and the other NBA players are here just to inspire the kids," said Cash, who has helped with grass root programs in Africa, Prague, London and China.
"Over the last two months what this program has done is really commendable. In the next year or two it will grow extensively." Cash also stressed on the importance of not looking at instant results.
"Everybody wants to look at the final product. When is the next NBA, WNBA player coming? That is not the aim of this initiative. It is really about trying to get kids active and having a healthier lifestyle.
The most important thing here is to make the kids fall in love with the sport. In the next few years, if we start grooming some of the best players in the world, it is a good thing for India.
"India has potential in basketball. I think any time an investment of this scale is made, it helps a lot. Basketball in the US has obviously been played for a very long time. It can be popular here too," said Cash whose basketball feats on court helped her bag a university scholarship and rescued her from financial difficulties.