NBA Trainer Tilton Joins BPBL Push for Elite Basketball

NBA Skills Trainer and Player Development Specialist Jake Tilton is in the country, teaming up with the Belize Premier Basketball League to help shape a world-class basketball experience. Tilton touched down last Friday and hasn’t wasted a minute; he’s been courtside at BPBL games, chatting with coaches and referees, and even hitting the gym with players. Today, we sat down with Tilton to hear his thoughts on Belize’s basketball potential and what it’ll take to elevate the game to the next level.

 

Jake Tilton, NBA Skills Trainer

“I think right now from what I have seen is that we are in an area where we are starting to rebuild the foundation and get players where we need to go. The biggest thing is going to be helping development of coaches to understand systems and trends in the game of basketball we are seeing the U.S, Europe and Asia, getting them on par with the rest of the world, getting officials developed where they feel like they can own the game and call the game and make sure they are making the product doesn’t boil over and get into these heated arguments. Obviously in sports there is a lot of passion that comes with that, but we can’t have coaches and outside sources infiltrating and creating distractions besides the game itself. I think a big part will be attacking youth development, helping players as young as 12U, 14U, 15U, develop good habits instead of just playing basketball, getting into detailed training where we can work on the footwork and the shooting techniques, finishing techniques, the ball handling and we can have them understand the IQ of the game. We are at the base, through multiple discussion with the commissioners and owners of the league, coaches and the officials and the president of the federation is that we need to start putting in more development for everyone involved in the game of basketball to help produce more opportunities for those in the country.”