ABOUT TAYLOR MADE
ABOUT TAYLOR MADE
THE last time American Robert Taylor was in the country, it was as the coach of highly-successful Qatar Sports Club. He helped the side to three Qatar League titles in four years (1989, ’90 and ’91) before moving on. The biggest achievement of his career came in ’94, when he took the Egypt national team to the FIBA World Championship in Toronto, Canada.
A lot has changed since Taylor’s last stint in Qatar, but his love for the game and penchant for finding and moulding talent remains the same. Judging by the way the new Director of Qatar’s National Youth Teams carefully made notes as youngsters dribbled, ducked and passed the ball around at the Al Gharafa Training Gym last week, he seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the second coming although he has a slightly different role this time.
Coach Robert Taylor
Founder & co director
Experience
Teacher-Coach
American Community School at Amman Jordan
August 2004 – Present (10 years 8 months)
National Team Head Coach
Egyptian Basketball Federation
September 1992 – July 1996 (3 years 11 months)Cairo, Egypt
Qualifeid and Coached The National Team of Egyypt to The 1994 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ,in Toronto Canada
National Team Head Coach
Jordan Basketball Federation
September 1982 – July 1986 (3 years 11 months)
Education
Western Illinois University
M.S., Sports Adm.
1976 – 1978
Wittenberg University
B.A., Business Adm.--Phys.ED
1972 – 1975
F.I.B.A. INTERNATIONAL COACHING EXPERT
PRESENT POSITION-QATAR BASKETBALL FEDERATION :
NATIONAL TEAMS TECHNICAL ADVISOR
* Organize and Teach Clinics and Workshop for Club Coaches
* Design Curriculum for Skills Progression for Under 14 Under 12 and Under 10 Coaches
* Develop a Certification Course for Primary and Secondary School Physical Education Coaches
* Monitor Teachers and Coaches participating Olympic Committees Schools Olympic Programs
* Mentored, Coached, and Advise aspiring coaches who wish to become National Team Head Coaches
TECHNICAL EXPERTISE : NATIONAL TEAM OF EGYPT
AFRICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
ARAB CHAMPIONSHIPS
1994 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
NATIONAL TEAM OF JORDAN
ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIP
ARAB CHAMPIONSHIPS
RELATED EXPERIENCE : WEST ASIAN CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS
ASIAN CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS
ARAB CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS
WILLIAM JONES CUP
KEY SKILLS : TEAM PLAYER
Shares knowledge and encourages development
for coaches to achieve specific team goals.
STAFF DEVELOPEMENT
Mentor for a number of his assistants and currently
works with the National Team and Club Head
Coaches in both Asian and Asia.
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“The Qatar Basketball Federation has entrusted me with the job of finding the next generation of national team players. I go practically everywhere — clubs, schools and the Qatar Olympic Committee’s Schools Olympic Programme — to find these children.
“From what I’ve seen, these kids need to work on the fundamentals. We need to improve their training programmes at schools and clubs. There’s a lot of work ahead for me,” he said.
The coach chose not to comment on Qatar’s recent naturalisation policy, but admitted it put up big challenges.
“The policy is something new to me. In the ’80s, all my players were Qataris, except for the lone professional. I can’t comment on what happened between then and now as I haven’t witnessed it firsthand. I’ve seen the best and worst of basketball in Qatar. My plan is to put a repair mechanism in place to correct the prevalent situation.
“It won’t be easy as kids have many options these days. Football is the most popular sport while athletics is slowly gaining ground. There’s also a huge following for handball.
“Ideally, I want to identify a small group of children each year, teach and keep them together for a few seasons. They’ll then take up the game seriously,” he signed off.