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Jakarta Post

RI basketball needs booster to reach world stage

Azrul Ananda (Courtesy of Azrul Ananda)At first, Azrul Ananda was only a basketball aficionado

The Jakarta Post
Tue, August 20, 2019

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RI basketball needs booster to reach world stage

Azrul Ananda (Courtesy of Azrul Ananda)

At first, Azrul Ananda was only a basketball aficionado. He had a big dream to better organize the sport and craft a huge vessel to collect potential talents from around the archipelago.

Businesswise, he also sees a bright future on this. The defining part is that he wants to allocate enormous energy and concentration to manifest that dream into reality, safeguard it and even develop it into a business empire.

Azrul started Development Basketball Indonesia (DBL) in 2004. The DBL right now is the country’s biggest organizer for high school-level basket tournaments, flexing its muscle in 22 provinces and 30 cities, and it is still growing.

Azrul spoke with The Jakarta Post’s Dicky Christanto in Surabaya, East Java, sharing his thoughts and optimism that basketball still has room to grow and reach the world stage. Below are excerpts from the interview.

Question: Where are we right now?

Answer: We began our first expansion in 2008, from East Java to the rest of the country, with only 15 staff. At that time, i told my staff that we had uncovered less than 10 percent of our potential. Now, 11 years later, with approximately 300 permanent staff, involving 1000 people during one DBL season, 4,500 participants and approximately 1.2 million spectators every year, my statement is still the same, that we haven’t reached 10 percent of our potential. The important message is that when we keep pushing our boundaries and breaking barriers, then we will encounter vast space to grow and develop.

The obvious challenges that lie ahead [is that] we are still in 22 provinces right now. Of course we are targeting a presence in all 34 provinces.

Based on the survey that has been jointly conducted with our partners, basketball is the number one choice for youngsters under 18 but overall it still sits second as most popular sport in the country, after soccer. However, we must also admit that between basketball and soccer, there still a huge gap. Therefore, what we have done so far is far from enough. Indonesia is still a huge space for us to fill.

What are the problems you encountered during your days of developing the DBL?

There are two barriers that we have met along the way. The first and foremost is how you lure youngsters to the sport. How do you make these young people want to transform their interest into sets of skills required in basketball. Down to technicalities, there is a lack of infrastructure in some regions. We still often find schools that don’t have basketball courts, or even worse, we also find that some cities don’t have proper basketball stadiums. And this has become the sole reason of why we still cannot reach all provinces right now. There are also times when we were ‘bullied’ by local political muscle and as a result we need to pay extra money. But overall, this is still a fight worth fighting for. We have received tons of support from schools and the youngsters who deem the DBL tournament as the right vessel to hone their skills.

Another problem that often occurs is the price of a pair basketball shoes. In big cities, branded basketball shoes are often sold for Rp 3 million [US$210] per pair and still there are lines of people who want to buy it. But for those who cannot afford it, this particular matter poses a problem.

[The DBL has joined forces with local shoemaker Ardilles to produce AZ basketball shoes priced below Rp 500,000 to provide alternatives for those who seek good quality yet affordable basketball shoes.]

The second big one is how you put basketball into a handsome package that wouldn’t only provide the sport but also offer good quality entertainment.

How deep is the government’s involvement in this business?

The triumvirate in this business is the DBL as organizers, sponsors and the government. But it has become our policy to involve no money from the government. Thus, what we need from the government is its readiness to build the necessary infrastructure to develop basketball.

Do you still notice any gap in skills so far?

The inevitable gaps in skills and performance is still spotted. We can’t close our eyes to the fact that we notice gaps in the field. There are at least three provinces that are known as the basketball strongholds, West Java, Bali and East Java. We acknowledge strong basketball traditions in these provinces and apparently they have made use of it.

Bali, especially, has provided us with strong talented women players. We have even deployed an All Stars women’s team where five of them were from Bali. So far, Bali and West Java are the most consistent in displaying greatness closely followed by provinces like Jakarta, Central Java and East Java. Meanwhile, in other provinces, we still need to work on some issues. In Kupang, for example, at first we even had to assist them to form the local basketball association before we could organize a single match there. Now, Kupang has its own regular DBL competition but also a brand new basketball stadium. Thus is ok to start a few steps behind because we are there to provide the stage to levelling with others.

Right now, we are beginning to witness talents showing up from regions like Papua and West Nusa Tenggara. In time, we will be collecting what we are growing today.

Aside from sports achievements, what else that has been achieved so far?

We always train our students to act as professionals whether they end up in or outside the court. I often receive testimonials from DBL alumni that what they have learned during their DBL days has helped them in crafting their professional careers later on.

We have just found out that the DBL could also be an effective tool to unite people and give firsthand knowledge to those who are busy with their own groups. In that sense, we are helping the government in growing and nurturing tolerance. For example, there was a time when an Islamic boarding school team met a Catholic high school team from Bandung. The boarding school has long been perceived as a hardliner. But it turned out that the match went incredibly ok and each group could greet one another in a very friendly manner.

What was your first encounter with basketball?

I departed to a senior high school on a scholarship in 1993. I was placed in Ellinwood, a small city located in Kansas, the United States. There, in the city that is inhabited by less than 3,000, I was touched by the locals who treated basketball as a grassroots sport, not a sport that is affiliated with pop culture like it is widely perceived around the globe. I lived with a family who ran the high school newspaper. This paper has three photographers who also happened to be members of the team. Therefore, I replaced them as photographer whenever they played.

I saw firsthand about passion, tenacity, determination and self-discipline in the sport. Seeing how the club manages its own supporters and maintains balance between sports and academic achievement inspired me to make my own league. The non-negotiable policy is the student-athlete concept. We don’t tolerate those who show bigger respect to the sport than academic achievement. They are always a student first then an athlete.

How does the DBL enforce its policies?

We have screened for foul practices. Thorough checkups on the students’ background is done regularly. Penalties for foul play vary from being prohibited to join the DBL at certain times or permanent bans.

What is your dream?

Reaching all 34 provinces is my main goal. We expect to fulfill this hope in less than five years. We are now also developing the junior DBL, tailored for junior high school students, which is active in seven provinces. Another project is building the DBL academy targeting children from 5-years-old to get to know the sport.

What is preventing us from getting regional achievements like the Philippines?

Basketball has long been treated as part of daily life there. It is the country’s national sport. Therefore, the bulk of basketball talents are provided along the way and thanks to serious preparations they have achieved so much regionally. We have the chance to prove ourselves in the region. The result never denies the process. We aren’t there yet but we will be. We need to remain patient and determined over this issue. With our current pace in grooming young talents and significant improvements to our student leagues and professional competition, we will finally get there.

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