14 Sep 2011 NBA Africa partners with KBF/Malezi/Sadili To Offer First Coach Workshop

Court time: Coach Wright Elaborates On A Point

The Sadili Oval Sports Academy on 14^th September 2011 hosted a world – class basketball clinic in conjunction with Kenya Basketball Federation, NBA Africa, Malezi College (Department of Sports, Recreation and Physical Education) and the famous basketball brand- Sprite.

Sadili boasts of having been the development platform for some of East Africa's basketball players who now play in the NBA and in the NCAA, honed their skills. The Malezi College also stands tall in being one of the premier institutions offering sports coaching and sports management courses in all sports at an affordable rate to coaches nationwide. Kenya Basketball federation, the nation’s basketball managing body is credited for having brought competitive basketball back into Kenya and as a result turned the sport into semi- professional. KBF’s resilience and hard work has attracted the corporate world into the game with  teams in within the major leagues.

Manyo chats with Nellie of Brookhouse School

The clinic at Sadili was run by re-knowned NBA Coach Wright and his South African-based NBA Africa counterpart John Manyo-Plange, and attracted a total of 48 coaches and referees. With 38 of the coaches being male and the other 10 being women, the facilitating coaches lauded the KBF and Sadili for having brought in women in a male dominated sport. Among the key skills taught by Coach Wright were offensive performance, defensive performance, player and coach attitude. Perhaps to note the main ingredient of their teachings was work ethic. In this segment of the clinic delivered by Coach Wright, coaches were exposed to a module that developed their mindset and also worked on their players’ mindset towards the game. ‘The main aim is winning, a player who is not interested in winning is as good as the bench’- Coach Wright. He went ahead to explain the reason for proper organizing of training sessions, prevention of injury and player conditioning within his module. In concluding their presentations both Toby Wright and Manyo-Plange expressed optimism in the local coaches being able to nurture more youngsters with the learn the skills and as a result provide the much needed new crop of players for the international basketball scene. They also expressed their interest in exploring ways to work with Sadili Oval and Malezi College, in the near future, as partners in developing basketball in Kenya. They were impressed by the commitment to sport, player, and facility development in 21 years.

Hot weather, long hours, but no-one is complaining!

Sprite has been in the Kenyan Hoops circles since 2003, creating basketball links between Kenya and the outside world and also offering an avenue for graffiti artists and Kenyan Hip- hop artists to showcase their skills. It is in August 2009 that the Sprite Slam series was officially launched in Kenya and ever since, players and coaches alike have been made to realize that basketball should be approached from a more sophisticated angle. The best of shows was put on display at the University of Nairobi courts on 16^th August 2011.  Despite the rain coming down and soaking the courts, the top 40 players as selected by KBF worked extensively to showcase their 3 on 3 skills in front of a charged spectator presence.

Happy Faces Of Enlightened Coaches: "We Want More" they all say...a challenge to the organisers!