Success needs to be quantified. Even sentiment can be measured.
#TBT2015
‘Naam Aaja, Naam Aaja, Naam Aaa..’ chants an oddly familiar Indian face at one of the most prestigious league nights of the world- the NBA 2015 draft. The last few moments before his name was announced was better than the best thrillers and that is when I knew I was rooting for the right guy.
For those who don’t know, Satnam Singh Bhamara is the first-ever Indian to get drafted into the NBA by the Dallas Mavericks. He is the team’s 52nd pick and if you have seen the video that has been doing the rounds, you can tell it was one of the most crucial days of his life.
Did he know that 25th June 2015 was going to be the biggest day of his life? That his life would change? That he would be a global Indian icon? I think he did because that is how he planned it.
He seemed calm and confident, alright; but as someone who knew the nitty-gritty’s of what it took for Satnam to reach this place, I was deliriously happy when he got picked. He made India rejoice with his success, and hit the right spot of the nation’s sentiments.
Giving all due credit to Satnam’s basketball journey which began in a small village called Ballo Ke in Punjab, to playing in the summer league in the Dallas Mavericks uniform, one can only imagine what were the kinds of obstacles and hardships someone like him had to live through.
However, this is not a tragic story- it’s a story of hope and hard work where luck played her guest appearance exactly when Satnam needed her. This is a story of a young boy who didn’t understand basketball, becoming a part of the most elite professional basketball league- The NBA. This is a fairytale.
Obviously, when I was given the chance to interview Satnam as part of my PR profile, I jumped at it as I wanted to explore a different side of this young player.
When I finally met him,<Insert something about his height and how it intimidated me> I was sure there wouldn’t be any surprises with respect to his game, physical looks, or his new fame.
Yes, his shoes are abnormally big, size 22 basketball shoes and anything and anyone would appear tiny in front of him. Oh! And his grandmother is 6’9 which makes her a really tall lady. What particularly caught my eye were Satnam’s controlled childish exuberance and the newly formed subtle American accent while speaking to me. Satnam only did learn English whilst he was playing and training with the IMG Academy in Florida so the accent is justified.
Fun fact- Satnam hated English in school so much that it is believed that he tore a total of 108 English books till Class V.
Cut to the green peaceful village of Ballo Ke 5 years ago where Satnam was just another boy who used to spend his time playing while his father was working on the field. There weren’t any basketball courts there and it was his father who introduced him to the game that changed his life.
Satnam had never even heard of this game called ’basketball’. He says, “It was my father who first wanted to play basketball, but his grandfather insisted he could not. They were a family of farmers and he had fields to tend to.” Nevertheless, Satnam’s father engaged him in his dream sport. He was then sent off to the Ludhiana academy to pursue the same.
Within a few years of training, his coaches realized that there was more to his dexterity than his sheer size. He was soon considered a natural, and like every young player, he still fondly remembers his first dunk (age 13). He grew a ridiculous 15 inches in four years, and after shining his way through all the sub-junior competitions, he forced his way into the Youth (U16) team.
There was no more second-guessing it – the son of a humble farmer, who would struggle to pronounce ‘basketball’ five years ago, had become the country’s best young player. Satnam’s success led him to be recommended by the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) to be part of a three-team contingent of Indian youngsters sent to Singapore for the NBA‘s Basketball Without Borders (BWB) Asia camp, which featured 44 junior boys from 19 different countries in Asia and Oceania.
Singh was also selected as one of 29 students to spend three months at the IMG Academy in Florida, but once he got to Florida, they didn't want to let him go back to India.
Anyway, Satnam spent the last five years playing at the IMG Academy in Florida and he's the first player since the NBA put age restrictions in place in 2005 to enter the league without first playing in college, a professional foreign league, or the D-League. Now, that is so rare that you are almost never alive to witness such stark exceptions being made in the name of talent.
Satnam says rather emotionally, "He (my father) never got the chance that I am getting now. He is very proud of me, and I want to play this game as well as I can play. That is my task now.”
However, the hard part along with the grueling training sessions was to break the language barrier as he could hardly understand his instructions and had trouble making friends. In order to get it over with, Satnam made a voluntary effort of speaking and learning English even if he was wrong which is a pretty big deal for a teenager, who more often than not, is always drowned in self-doubt and consciousness.
“It was tough but people around me were very helpful and I managed. Now my focus is to get better with my game; get fitter and play for the NBA season,” says Satnam before saying goodbye as our 15-minute time limit was up.
NBA in India had a huge role in handpicking Satnam. It was the NBA director of basketball operations in India, Troy Justice, who saw him play beautifully even in his torn shoes during one of the grassroots activities and decided it was time for NBA India along with IMGR to get behind Satnam. According to the owner of Mavericks, Mark Cuban, NBA will have a billion more fans (indicating towards India), thanks to Satnam.
Believe you me, this is just the beginning.
For starters, in Satnam, India has been blessed with a hell of an unswerving player who tried going beyond and succeeded in his own way. His story is being narrated in different voices and in various lights which only makes me wonder how much India, as a whole has been moved by Satnam’s achievement.
This 19-year-old, expected to be paid at least $4.9 million per season, is taking baby steps in a giant’s shoes toward his larger goal of playing in an NBA game and we cannot wait for his success to be quantified.
A quote I read somewhere completely relates to Satnam. It goes by, ‘The field is large and constantly increasing. Of course, it will be hard to get away from the conventional, but if you cannot do it, you are not who you want to be’
P.S: In 2022, this 25-year-old Singh, who created history when he was picked in the NBA draft by Dallas Mavericks in 2015, will begin his training to be a pro wrestler at the Atlanta-based Nightmare Factory, to compete in the All Elite Wrestling (AEW).