{"id":1105,"date":"2024-04-04T03:23:05","date_gmt":"2024-04-04T03:23:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aisportsqatar.com\/?p=1105"},"modified":"2024-06-12T11:22:05","modified_gmt":"2024-06-12T11:22:05","slug":"player-wants-to-take-basketball-to-newer-heights-in-qatar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aisportsqatar.com\/player-wants-to-take-basketball-to-newer-heights-in-qatar\/","title":{"rendered":"Player wants to take basketball to newer heights in Qatar"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"1105\" class=\"elementor elementor-1105\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5aa0a60b e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"5aa0a60b\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-24882d4a elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"24882d4a\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<style>\/*! elementor - v3.23.0 - 05-08-2024 *\/\n.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-stacked .elementor-drop-cap{background-color:#69727d;color:#fff}.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-framed .elementor-drop-cap{color:#69727d;border:3px solid;background-color:transparent}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap{margin-top:8px}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap-letter{width:1em;height:1em}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap{float:left;text-align:center;line-height:1;font-size:50px}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap-letter{display:inline-block}<\/style>\t\t\t\t<div>\n<p>*Abdulrahim Abuissa organises camp in Qatar with assistant coach for the NBA\u2019s Cleveland Cavaliers JJ Outlaw<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>At just 22 years of age, Abdulrahim Abuissa has a vision to take the game of basketball to newer heights in Qatar.<\/p>\n<div>Having studied in the United States, Abuissa has naturally developed a passion for the game at a very young age and took up the sport.<br>\nA shooting guard (one of the five traditional positions in basketball), Abuissa is the first Qatari to play in the NCAA Division 1, the highest level of college basketball in the United States.<\/div><div><br><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"imgCaption\">\n<p><strong>Coach JJ Outlaw gives tips to children at the basketball camp.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>He has also gone to represent Qatar and Al Sadd back home.<br>\nBut just playing the game wasn\u2019t enough for the youngster as Abuissa wants to grow the game in his home country.<br>\nAbuissa through his venture A I Sports, of which he is the Founder &amp; CEO \u2013 has roped in assistant coach for the NBA\u2019s Cleveland Cavaliers JJ Outlaw to conduct a camp in Qatar.<br>\nInto his second year, the camp was held at the Qatar Basketball Federation from August 11 to 14 \u2013 with more than 50 boys and girls from the age group of 8 to 18 honing their skills.<br>\n\u201cIt\u2019s never too early to start.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI saw an opportunity and thought I should start this initiative. I grew up playing basketball here, so basketball to me has been a huge part of my life. My focus is to bring the basketball culture to Qatar and develop a passion for the game.<br>\n\u201cIn Qatar, football is very popular but I also want kids to play basketball,\u201d Abuissa told Gulf Times Saturday.<br>\n\u201cWe had 11 coaches and around 50 participants \u2013 both boys and girls \u2013 from the age group of 8 to 18 participate in the camp. We also had players from clubs take part.<br>\n\u201cWe worked on offense, defense and a lot of ball skills. The kids also took part in 3\u00d73 matches.<br>\n\u201cI want to thank Qatar Basketball Federation (QBF) for doing this and for allowing us to use their facility.<br>\n\u201cI am excited with what I saw in the kids, they have a lot of passion for basketball.<br>\nThey just need more opportunities and exposure,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>The group sessions in the camp were focused on offensive fundamentals with a strong emphasis on perimeter footwork, ball handling, and shooting.<br>\nThe drills and teaching points were the same used in NBA practice and personal workouts that coach Outlaw has conducted over the past 11 years in the NBA.<br>\nThe idea of the camp is to tap the talent at the grassroots level and bring in basketball culture among the kids.<br>\n\u201cThe camps kind of help players find opportunities throughout the year. I think that&#8217;s very valuable.<br>\n&#8220;I really enjoy helping the grassroots here in Doha. I think that&#8217;s very important.<br>\nKids need to be attached to the game at an early age. Kids need to be a part of the basketball culture, up to date all the time. So that&#8217;s really what we&#8217;re trying to do here,\u201d says Abuissa.<br>\nHaving witnessed the enthusiasm for the game from the budding hoopsters, Abuissa wants to organise more such camps in the country.<br>\n\u201cThis is just the beginning, I want to do more for basketball in Qatar. In the future, we are planning for more ventures with NBA personnel.<br>\n&#8220;Not just with coaching but also in relation to strength and conditioning,\u201d he says.<br>\nMeanwhile, coach JJ Outlaw, who has worked with three different NBA teams and many NBA all-star players, said it was rewarding to come to Qatar and develop the game.<br>\n\u201cIt\u2019s my second time here in Qatar. There is so much interest for the game of basketball at the grassroots level here. And so to have the opportunity to come and work with these young players is extremely rewarding for me, but it&#8217;s also a way of giving back to the game and spreading knowledge of the game.<br>\n&#8220;And that&#8217;s something that I&#8217;m all about,\u201d he said. Outlaw is in his second year as an assistant coach at the Cavaliers.<br>\nHe previously spent three seasons with the Memphis Grizzlies, including the 2018-19 campaign as an assistant coach focused on player development.<br>\nPrior to that, Outlaw also worked for the Los Angeles Lakers.<br>\n\u201cTo see how much the game is growing in Qatar is extremely rewarding.<br>\nI also want to add that the coaches here are extremely knowledgeable and extremely experienced. A lot of them are former players themselves.<br>\n&#8220;And so for them to take the time out of their schedules and work with these players, I think it&#8217;s extremely beneficial for everybody,\u201d Outlaw said.<br>\n\u201cJust like with anything, you have to have a foundation. And so that&#8217;s really what we&#8217;ve been trying to create for the last two years.<br>\n&#8220;And then I would love to be able to bring NBA coaches and players, so that they can experience this wonderful place and the things that I&#8217;ve experienced in the last few years here,\u201d the assistant coach at Cavaliers said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>*Abdulrahim Abuissa organises camp in Qatar with assistant coach for the NBA\u2019s Cleveland Cavaliers JJ Outlaw At just 22 years [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-events"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aisportsqatar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aisportsqatar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aisportsqatar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aisportsqatar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aisportsqatar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1105"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.aisportsqatar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2784,"href":"https:\/\/www.aisportsqatar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1105\/revisions\/2784"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aisportsqatar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aisportsqatar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aisportsqatar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aisportsqatar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}