By Tania Ganguli
Luka Doncic was 13 when he moved from his native Slovenia to Spain to play for Real Madrid. He didn’t know English or Spanish, but he could speak basketball fluently, and the expectations of a storied professional organization hung over him.
But it was fun for him, even with that pressure, the same way it is now that he has become one of the NBA’s brightest stars, playing for the Dallas Mavericks.
He has noticed that it’s not like that for many players in youth programs around the world, a number of whom have quit basketball while still in adolescence.
“The kids are, I think, a little bit stressed,” Doncic said in an interview.
So this year, his foundation, which debuts this week with a focus on making sports an enriching part of children’s lives, hired a research organization called Nonfiction to study youth basketball in the Balkans and the United States. Over five months, researchers conducted in-depth interviews with dozens of coaches, players, parents, trainers and other basketball experts. They also surveyed more than 1,200 parents of youth basketball players and immersed themselves in eight basketball camps and training centers. They collected letters from children who wrote about the sport’s importance to them.
The researchers found that youth programs in the Balkans focused on the team more than the individual. They also found that when Yugoslavia dissolved in the early 1990s, much of the government support for basketball in that region disappeared. The corporations that filled the void through sponsorships sometimes put pressure on teams to win, which led some coaches to pay less attention to player development and emphasize winning over everything else.
In the United States, researchers found a basketball culture that was intense and able to produce the biggest stars in the world, but that encouraged viral highlights on social media over true development. A quarter of the American parents surveyed said youth basketball was more about making money than about teaching children.
“I don’t know very many 25-year-olds who invest in research projects, but that’s how important it was to him,” said Lara Beth Seager, executive director of Doncic’s foundation. She added, “It was really important to him that we do research and find out where can he help, where can we have the biggest impact and make the greatest change.”
With Doncic’s input, researchers created a list of principles they felt youth basketball programs needed to be able to help children develop in healthy ways, physically and emotionally. The principles include “team-first mentality” and “program continuity.” Seager said they added “embracing mess and joy” when Doncic, who is known for his creative playmaking ability, insisted.
Doncic is also convening a group of current and former players to create a youth sports council. The group includes NBA star Stephen Curry and former NBA greats Pau Gasol, who grew up in Spain; Dirk Nowitzki, who is German; Steve Nash, who was born in South Africa and raised in Canada; and Tracy McGrady, who entered the league straight out of high school. Sabrina Ionescu, a WNBA star who plays for the New York Liberty, will join them, as will Bill Duffy, Doncic’s agent, and Igor Kokoskov, an assistant for the Atlanta Hawks, who has coached the Slovenian men’s national team.
Doncic recently spoke with The New York Times about this initiative and how he remains joyful, even in a multibillion-dollar industry. Here are edited excerpts from the conversation.
Q: What made you want your foundation to focus on youth basketball?
A: Because basketball meant so much to me. I mean, it still means a lot. I just want to give the kids the same experience I had, because basketball changed my life for better. I learned so much from it. Courage, experience, passion.
Q: In the letter you wrote at the beginning of the report, you said you had seen how children were losing the joy and the magic of basketball. How did that come across your radar?
A: There was a lot of pressure out there, especially with all the social media going on. I think there’s too much based on highlights. So I think that, at the end of the day, I just want to bring back the joy and fun for the kids. Like I had, you know. After I went to school or after school, I went out to play basketball. And that was the best thing that I ever did. You know, I just had fun. Enjoy it.
Q: Did you ever experience the pressure being a little stressful when you were younger?
A: Specifically for me, going that early to Madrid when I was 13, it was pressure. But I had joy playing basketball. I had joy going to Madrid. It was fun for me. So that’s the main reason I want to do this, because there’s always going to be people watching. And I just want them to have fun and not think about what other people think, and just enjoy the game.
Q: Does being a professional basketball player make it harder to find the joy in it, since this is your job?
A: No, I wouldn’t say so. It’s even more joy now. Always my dream was to get to the highest level of playing, the highest level of basketball, and just stay focused on the journey. And I do this every day. And as a young kid, it’s all I wanted to do every day.
Q: What is it about the game that brings you joy right now?
A: I don’t see it as a job. I see it as joy having fun out there. Obviously, there’s going to be struggles. When you lose the game, when you play bad. But that’s all part of the process. And it’s fun to be challenged with things.
Q: Even the criticism is part of what makes it fun?
A: For me it is. There’s always going to be, because criticism, especially nowadays, we’ve got a lot of social media going on. But I would just say we use this as motivation.
Q: Does the MVP race give you joy? Is that something that you strive for and that is fun for you?
A: Obviously. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be MVP of the NBA? But for me, the first thing is always championships. You know, last year was so close. So that’s one thing I use as motivation, too, always.
Q: Is there something about learning how to recover from losses that you have found has been valuable for your personal life?
A: I mean, yeah, of course, especially big losses. The first couple of days are kind of tough, and you just think about what could we do differently. And then just forget about it, and then just move on and learn from the things you did wrong, and try to get better. I would say it’s same in basketball as in personal life.
Q: The researchers collected journal entries from children who play basketball. Did you read them?
A: Yes.
Q: What did you think of those letters?
A: I think one conclusion of all of this is how much the game means to them and how they love to play it. And that’s what brought my attention the most. That’s why the whole point of this is just to get the kids to play basketball or have fun and not do anything else the moment they’re on the court, so they can really enjoy and be relaxed in it.
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