Harsh lessons for Kenya U18 basketball teams

The Kenya women’s under 18 basketball team recently participated in the African championships in Dakar Senegal. Kenya bowed out after loosing all 5 preliminary games never having been in contention of winning any of the matches. There results were as follows:

Angola 57 – Kenya 45
Tunisia 76 Kenya 48
Senegal 84 – Kenya 32
Egypt 86 – Kenya 49
Mali 68 – Kenya 40

7 out of the 12 players selected were from Shimba Hills secondary school, Kenya’s only talent development center.

Lesson 1: One development center is not enough

Shimba hills secondary school is the only talent development center for girls in Kenya. It was started not by the KBF but by UNICEF. However Shimba only has 12 players at any point in time which is insufficient. In countries that do well in basketball, there are several talent development centers all over the country. Nairobi alone should have 3 or 4 such centers. Ideally there should several such centres in every province. There is plenty of talent in Kenya that is going to waste. Only 12 at a time are lucky enough to be enrolled at Shimba.

Its worth noting that Shimba recently lost to a school in Burundi at the East Africa secondary school games. This means they are having a down year. If there were other such centres in the country, a different school would have been able to pick up the slack.

If Kenya were to set up several such centers all over the country, the talent base available would be much wider. There would be more players to choose from. Competition for a place in the national team would be stiffer which would encourage players to work harder. All this would result in a better national team.

Also by having more players in development centers, the quality of play in the national league would be better. As things stand now, most players in the Kenya national league never attended talent development centers. This lowers the quality of the league. Shimba only has about 12 players at a time. If only half of them pursue basketball after secondary school then the number of high level players available for the Kenyan senior national team is even lower. This is why Kenya needs more talent development centers.

Lesson 2: Play against quality opposition

If there were other talent development centres in Kenya , a school like Shimba would play regularly against other equally talented schools which would sharpen them unlike the current situation where they play against schools that are hopeless against them. It is not uncommon for Shimba to win their matches by 60 to 100 points. This does nothing for their development. It does not sharpen them. It does not prepare them for adversity. So when they come up against tough opposition, they are likely to loose because they are not used to being challenged. This is what happened when they lost to that team from Burundi. They were used to coasting.

Aside from playing against other development centres, schools like Shimba hills should participate in the top tier league where they can measure themselves against clubs like KPA, Eagle wings etc. This will further toughen them and enable them to learn lessons from grizzled veterans.

Indeed many of the U18 players whom Kenya played against, already play in their respective national leagues. So while Kenya players waste time playing against hopeless opposition, their age-mates in Mali, Senegal and elsewhere are toughening up by playing grown women.

Lesson 3: Poor Fundamentals

Basketball is the one sport where mastering the fundamentals of passing, dribbling, shooting etc is critical. Once a player masters these fundamentals he or she can then move to more advanced aspects like shooting off screens etc. The most succesful players are those that mastered fundamentals early, re-enforce the fundamentals through constant practice and build on these fundamentals to perform more advanced tasks.

The Kenya U18 coach recently admitted that the Kenyan players were way behind their opponents in terms of mastering the fundamentals and basics of the game. This is perhaps the biggest reason for Kenya’s poor showing. Without doing the fundamentals well, you cannot do any of the advanced techniques that can allow you to win games.

Lesson 4 : Encourage basketball at a younger age

Most Kenyan basketball players start to play regularly when they reach secondary school at age 15. This is too late because by this time, their counterparts in Senegal, Mali etc have been playing regularly since they were 10 or younger. This means that the Kenyan player is always 5 years behind his counterpart.

Basketball is non existent in primary schools. It is also difficult to find basketball in neighbourhoolds and communities. As noted in a previous article, KBF should partner with coprorations like Safaricom to build basketball grounds in neighbourhoods and in primary schools.

KBF should also show more initiative in tapping talent at a younger age. Those who show potential should be encouraged and given age specific training.

Lesson 5: The same applies to the mens team

The Kenya mens under 18 team suffers from the same issues but is even further behind their female counterparts. During the Africa U18 basketball qualifiers, they went down by over 40 points to Rwanda who went on to qualify only to finish dead last in the tournament.