Black Cats boss has basketball hoop installed at training ground.
Sunderland manager Gus Poyet has had a basketball hoop installed at the club’s training ground to help his side improve certain areas of their game, the Guardian reports.
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The Uruguayan’s father was a top basketball player, and he feels players in England could benefit from some of the skills used in the sport.
Poyet added that although it is not a particularly popular game here, he plans to make it so.
“Basketball can help in football, especially with marking,” he said.
“The way you turn is similar in both sports. The problem is basketball is not very popular in England – but I’m going to make it popular.
“I watched our youth cup game against Newcastle and watching the way the kids marked and moved I thought every player should be playing a bit of basketball. I’ve been talking a lot about basketball since then – and I’ve got a hoop put up at the training ground.
“If you play basketball certain movements become natural. There was a full-back in our game last weekend, somebody was running at him and he was turning, looking at the goal – you cannot mark like that. You mark facing the player and the ball and that’s the same in basketball. You never see a player in basketball running towards his own basket to mark without looking over his shoulder.”
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