Children getting training at the Aspire Dome. PicS: Qassim Rahmatullah / The Peninsula
Creating a market for basketball training was not an easy task in a football loving country, but Lourd Wilhelm Biltz, who has spent over 15 years in fitness industry, has always loved challenges.
With a small, but dedicated team coaches, he founded Legit Basketball Clinic around three months ago to train children. In a short period of time the Clinic has not only carved a niche for itself, but is also attracting children from across Qatar.
“We began with just seven coaches and 13 children, but in a matter of three months the number of kids has grown to 67 children. We were expecting good start for Legit Basketball Clinic, but such a strong response was way above our expectations,” Lourd Wilhelm Biltz, Founder of Legit Basketball Clinic, told The Peninsula in an exclusive interview.
It all started with the Legit Community which was formed in August last year. During one of the meetings, it was decided to start a basketball clinic for children and we started Legit Basketball Clinic three months ago.
“Our vision is to keep the students physically active and continue improving their passion in the Sports. Our mission is to create an environment for the residents of Qatar active in sports,” he said.
“We are aiming to be the best in Qatar to provide trainings for each and every person who aspires to be better, physically, mentally in the basketball world. The aim behind establishing was not to make money but to teach them sports,” added
“It was a challenge to create market for basketball training, but having a team of well qualified coaches played a very crucial role in establishing the academy. Our clinic boasts of highly qualified coaches. Our coaches are well known faces in Qatar, which has helped us a lot,” explained Biltz.
“Our aim is to be the finest Clinic in Qatar in assisting each and every person, who aspires to be great physically and mentally, in the sports of basketball,” Head Coach, Mike Aliparo told The Peninsula.
“Apart from dribbling and shooting skills in basketball, we teach our students discipline in and out of the playing court and a healthy lifestyle. Legit basketball clinic will run and operate year long,” Aliparo added.
Currently the there are two categories for players, first is for children aged between 5 to 11 years and the second category is for players above 12 years. “With the team that we have, professional coaches, highly decorated administration, Lourd Wilhelm Biltz as a founder and a mentor, we are not going anywhere but larger and greater,” Aliparo added.
Though it is just three-month old venture, the clinic has seen demand from higher age group. Now the Clinic is planning to start programme for super-adults category in which we will train learners of more than 21 years.
For this category, the focus will be on the fitness aspect and not on the nitty gritty of the games. The training course will be designed to keep them fit and healthy. They will not be trained to win a tournament or a trophy.
“Currently there are many parents whose children are taking training from us. They have shown keen interest to enroll for this programme,” said Biltz.
The strong demand for basketball training has encouraged Legit Basketball Clinic to expand its presence in Qatar. The Clinic is planning to open another branch in Al Khor. “We are in talks with sports officials to open our branch in Al Khor and the talks are progressing well. We plan to open our next branch this winter season,” Biltz said.
Although the Clinic has created two categories for players according to the age, but the programme gives attention to the talent. “There are cases when a student is in lower age category, but has extraordinary talent. We identify such student and put him in advance training programme because of his talent,” he said.
When the Clinic started, it only had children from Filipino community, but now its students are from other nationalities.
“We have students from Vietnamese, Lebanese and Indian community. We want to diversify our student base and want to bring students from all the nationalities,” he added.
The clinic conducts training sessions on Thursday and Saturday at the Aspire Dome.
Biltz said that it the age of digital revolution, and children are also affected by technological developments. Every parents wishes that their children should remain away from mobile, tablets and other gadgets. I think our clinic is playing an important role in keeping away children from electronic devices by engaging them in sports. “My long term vision is to create a sports complex in Qatar, which will focus not only on basketball but on other sports as well. I hope the complex would create professional players that will play for Qatar,” Biltz added.
