Can this be the year of Rebirth of Kenya's Basketball?

Many a times a sport in this country undergoes serious degeneration and gets swallowed in the mediocrity of the administration of our general affairs as a State. It is true we can continue moaning about this and sing to the birds till heaven come but nothing changes.

Pres Obam hoops - www.guardian.co.uk

It is with this in mind that some of the administrators in the game of Basketball have decided to change the perception of the game and give it a slow but gradual 'rise from the ashes'. This process started sometime last year when the Kenya Basketball Federation experimented with the Friday Basketball games which became a favourite for those fans who were looking for alternatives in sports entertainment.

Though the Friday games eventually started attracting less crowds ( the idea was being disputed between the federation and a local entertainment company the latter which wanted to own the rights and larger parts of the revenue and not entirely for the interests of the game), this idea can be explored if fine-tuned and well-thought out.

Coming into the 2013 season, the Federation has been in talks and arrangements in place to screen live games from one or two venues as may be decided by the pay TV channels. This is one big shot in the arm that would go a long way in changing the way the viewed in the country. TV does wonders to a sport which is able to organise and attract favourable crowds and audience both 'online and offline'. It would also attract some form of revenues in advertising and promotions which the Federation can use to rebrand and gave the game a new face.

Talking of online, there is also a new magazine developed by basketball enthusiasts who also felt it is about time to talk about the game in its entirety, challenges and all. Titled "Inside B'Ball" it seeks to reach a growing number of sports fans who consumer their dose of sports online. It will also give the game of basketball a wider reach that it has been yearning for. It also good for the Federation to work closely with such entrepreneurs who will offer commercial assistance on ways to generate ideas and revenues for the game.

It's now for Kenya Basketball Federation to start engaging corporate firms and the Government where necessary to ensure that they get better infrastructure across the country - venues, training areas and exhibition areas. This can start with a refurbishment of the Nyayo Gymnasium - the place is need of a serious paint job, better lighting, sound systems and a scoreboard. The court and its surroundings also need a touch and markings to ensure it fits to world standards. It was embarrassing in 2010 when the venue hosted the Street Basketball exhibition games and there was a leak on the roofs.

The only venue which fits the bill is Kasarani multi-purpose gymnasium which is slightly away from town and might not be able to attract crowds as yet due to its proximity and accessibility. Other venues such as the Makande gymnasium in Mombasa would need expansion and better markings to ensure better experience for players and fans alike. Kisumu and Nakuru and any other major towns should look to developing indoor venues for such sports and this will offer alternative forms of entertainment and engagement with the youth.

College Basketball in Kenya - www.basket-in-africa.blogspot.com

Another mention should be the Zuku sponsorship of the Universities and Colleges Basketball League (UCBL). Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, this league was very competitive and saw 2-3 teams from qualify for the national Premier League. This should be followed through by Kenya Basketball Federation to see that they separate college and university teams from the semi-professional and corporate-sponsored teams. This way it will be easier to have a purely professional league and one that has learning institutions. The two would serve a complimentary role with one being a feeder to the other. We have seen that work successfully in more developed leagues such as the NBA and the NCCA College Basketball  in the United States.

Finally, NBA is making in-roads into Africa and it's about time that Kenya got a player or two representing a team from this famed league. There is a liasion office in South Africa closely watching what activities Kenyan basketball is undertaking. There are also the equally well-developed European Leagues in countries like Spain, Greece to name but a few which can come and recruit our talent and offer exposure to our players to the international game.

Can this be the rebirth that Kenyan Basketball has been yearning for?

Kenya Basketball's revamped website

In these times that Kenyan sport is slowly taking different forms of transformation both offline and online, it is fair to applaud the steps taken by various sports federations in the country. Kenya Basketball Federation's officials have decided to take their game online and through the revamped website, www.kenyabasketballfederation.co.ke  hope to appeal to a wider audience of the basketball game in Kenya and around the world.

Screen-shot of the revamped Kenya Basketball Federation website

This is a positive step forward for the officials who were elected to fresh mandate in KBF elections held earlier this year. This platform should the springboard for a final take-off of the game. This is after the #FridayNightBasketball (with CodeRed Basketball) breathed a new lease of life to the game since last year. This year it still attracts crowds but the other weekend games are yet to make any significant numbers. The game is also in dire need of corporate sponsorship not just for the League(s) but also for some of the teams who barely make it from game to game.
The game also needs some funds to be able to expand its outreach to other urban centres which see just a fraction of the League action while there should be continuous regional leagues. With the county system of government coming to effect, this is an idea the Executive Committee ought to look at.
But for now, we at SportsKenya applaud KBF for the baby steps towards the realisation of the game's success in the country.

Kenya Basketball Federation Elections - Let the will of the People prevail

One of Kenya's lacklustre sports bodies the Kenya Basketball Federation is scheduled to have its elections sometime later this month. Coming from a forgettable tenure will be the current chair one Mr. Paul Otula who doubles up as a principal of a leading national school.
Along with other officials Vice-Chair Henry Shihemi another school administrator, Vitalis Gode and Joseph Amoko, this group of officials have seen a steady decline in the sport since coming into office 4 years ago.
While many of the sports bodies collect this and that accolade at the annual gala awards organised across the country, the Federation has not been able to put forward a show to win any accolade or have a similar award system for its very best.

Poor Show
While some may say that there have been slight improvements thanks to the Friday Night Basketball games, much remains to be seen on how it has improved the players' and indeed the game's lot.
The concept of weekend night games is itself a noble one though KBF has not acted upon it and owned it fully resulting in more entertainment than basketball core values being upheld.
Away from this, the Kenya Premier League which is the highest level of play of the game has not seen any competitiveness and the play-offs have continued to attract the same old teams for the longest time. Also heavy on the toll is the lack of quality sides promoted from lower rungs of the Nairobi Basketball Association ( aptly known as NBA).
Basketball has also not been able to attract any major sponsor be it for the overall league or for some of the tournaments held across the country. While the efforts of its Marketing wing ( which coincidentally works on an ad hoc basis and is not fully empowered by the Federation). In fact one of the largest failings of the current team in office is the lack of commercial foretaste for the game's development.

A lot of attention is played to the high school and universities leagues which are more or less sustained by extra-curricular funds paid by the students attending those institutions, so no plus for revenue for KBF. A lot of talent is wasted here and this could be moved to the clubs and teams playing at the provincial and national leagues.
Affiliations to international bodies such as AIBA, FIBA have not been taken advantage of and this has seen little or no investment in the local game.
Last year's participation of the ladies team at the All-Africa Games was riddled with controversy after some players being dropped and others not being paid their allowances most of which had been released by the GoK. Parliamentary Committee on Sports is currently questioning the Maputo All-Africa Games Kenyan top brass officials on this and other controversies. 

Elections
With the upcoming elections, delegates will need to consider potential officials with the following;

• Commercialisation - for the longest time, we have sung this song about sports not being an amateur thing anymore and the need to commercialise it. Be it through single-sourced sponsors or partnerships with leading corporates, any sport CANNOT and WILL NOT survive without added revenues. Coca-Cola Kenya has made entreaties through the Spriteball tournaments, work something out that will deliver a win-win for both brands.
• Media appreciation - we have seen what the media can do to such sports disciplines as football, rugby and cricket locally. Though not fully exploited, there is marked difference and the games are all the better for it. Cultivate a healthy relationship with the media and you shall live to see the fruits. We have seen the Nigerian Basketball Federation games screened on DSTv, why can't we have the same from Kenya next?
• Full-time officials - no offense to the current officials but if they were full time officials running the sport, there would be more attention paid to it. The comforts of the other jobs make it impossible to deliver on your mandate.
• Revamp the League - while there seems to be a semblance of a National League, the reality is far from it. If you look carefully, 80% of the teams are originally from Nairobi, with 1-2 from Mombasa and one maybe from Kisumu. With the country having 47 counties in the new disposition, change the lower rung leagues to have teams from at least half of these counties which would then qualify for the national league.
• Better Use of Affiliation - it saddens to hear that one of African Basketball officials is a Kenyan yet we have not enjoyed much from the continental front. While it may not be his mandate to favour where he comes from, Kenyan officials can at least make an effort and challenge them to engage with the sport here.  Same goes for FIBA.

Another concern is the use of delegates' method. This is one of Kenya's and indeed many a sports bodies weakness in electing top officials. We all know of how the delegates are put up in some nice location and 'gifts' exchanged before the D-day when they go to rubber-stump the 'chosen ones'. We hope this is not the case and that the will of the people who love and dedicate their efforts to the growth of the game.

{Disclaimer: While we may have named the top officials in this post, our task is not to abuse or seek to tarnish their person in any way. The critique is purely on their mandate for the game of basketball in Kenya}

Can Kenyan Basketball stop scoring in its own backyard?

This weekend, two Kenyan clubs managed to win the men's and women's Zone V basketball championships. Co-op Bank -men and the Eagle Wings  in the women's division are looking to conquer Africa for continental honours.  This is all well and good. But coming out the embarrassment that was the under-18 women's championships in Egypt due to age-cheating, something is amiss.
For sometime now, the local game has been under-performing due to the Kenya Basketball Federation's lack of drive to market the sport and see its potential in commercial interests. While other sporting disciplines such as football, rugby and athletics continue attracting sponsors, the game has not been able to seize the opportunities. While we are informed that there some efforts in the works from a team led by the Marketing team led by a lady and former player Cynthia Mumbo, a lot needs to be cultivated among the officials, media and concerned parties to ensure the game becomes a major force to reckon with.
The country needs to work with continental partners who can help improve our technical part since we shall be able to share notes with the countries from the region - Angola, Senegal, Nigeria come to mind. Spriteball Tournaments while always welcome should work to the Federation's favour and be able to nurture and expose talent to the best in the game. This is only possible if the Federations co-opts the corporate firms in not just sponsoring the one-off tournaments but have structured programmes from the high school level, colleges all the way to the club levels.
FIBA the world governing body has an open-door policy that should allow the local federation to bloom and realise its potential. There is also need to cultivate a more transparent office from the current officials who have not been able to endear to their continental partners. Tragedy is the fact that heading the Zone V of  the continental body is our very own Eng. Morris Aluanga - so much potential but little action since taking office for the local game.
Other News:

(Pau Gasol - Image courtesy of 2010 FIBA World Championships promo - Giants Get Together)

The FIBA World Championships starts in 5 days in the Turkish capital of Ankara and other cities in Turkey. The back-drop though is dominated by the USA team who's off-season trading consisted of some outrageous moves by free agents, Lebron James among others. How susceptible the side will be given the level of competition seen in previous championships means the ' Dream Team' shall not have easy passage again. Shall African representatives ; Angola, Cote de Ivoire and Tunisia give a good account of the continent? The tournament starts on 28th August.

Sports Clubs - Institutional clubs, Community-driven or Tribal Affairs?

In the last few months, I have been feeding off comments and conversations about the need for sports clubs and more specifically football clubs to embrace ‘tribal’ outfits (for lack of a better word).
My dilemma though is that are we trying to re-live past days or create rivalries? Again what informs the decision is it the competitive nature or just some misinformed session? There is also the reasoning around the need for communities (read tribes) to rally behind their own.


Tanzanian football club Simba Union

Given the small matter of the 2007/8 election debacle I would trend on this one carefully. There is the perception that football thrives from certain parts of the country. True, but really wholly scientific.
In my humble opinion the clubs should be developed by the communities around them. What do I mean? For instance, we have areas such as Kawangware, Kangemi, Huruma, Spring Valley, Madaraka, Kileleshwa, and many more. The residents around these areas can develop football clubs right from the under 9 , under 13, under 15 and so on.
Structures such as we have with the Ligi Ndogo and what the Super Eight Tournament is trying to do should help. Then these can conglomerate around a common channel by having mini-tournaments and the winning team(s) be awarded.
Using Nationwide League and KPL these should then go up the ranks to eventually play at the top League. Of course some of these things are happening but not with the focus and the direction they ought to take.
Youth centres and clubs should be developed using the CDF funds and Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports which were intended for football in the 2008/9 Budget estimates. The long-abandoned FIFA Goal Project’s funds can also be secured and grants offered to the clubs displaying the best management skills.
Eventually these should be monitored on a regular basis and the wealth of talent brought to a common pool for the national teams which then train and meet on a regular basis.
Of course the clubs can also prepare business plans in consultation with the experts and the corporate world which is slowly starting to appreciate the potential of sports marketing. This can be done on an annual or semi-annual basis. This way clubs would be forced to prepare financial reports and potential suitors to conduct due diligence before making any commitment to the sporting outfits.
This can be replicated in other sporting disciplines such as rugby, basketball, and handball and as maybe pursued.
A line of contention is of course the institutional clubs from corporate firms which feel they can sponsor individuals from their companies to play in a team. This is usually tricky given the fluid nature of company management in most corporate firms and parastatals alike.

We also know what happens when the management changes hands and one top manager doesn’t find sense in sponsoring sports. Others would use the oft-made statement of rationalising, scaling down or whatever jargon tickles your fancy.
As the sporting season heats up in the local scene, let’s see what unfolds as the year trudges on. There are definitely interesting times ahead, but let’s be rational more than emotive which is not easy in sports!

African Women's basketball comes to Kenya

African women club championships started in Kenya's capital today. The FIBA affiliated championship will feature some of Africa's powershouses, Angola, Congo and Nigeria. This comes at a time when Kenya basketball seems to have sunk to its lowest.
This should be an opportune time for Kenyan basketball officials to engage with the visiting coaches and technical personnel to see best ways of improving the Kenyan game. Interestingly just like their counterparts in volleyball, the Kenyan women have improved their game with the under 21 reaching the semi-finals of the continental championships even after going to a tournament with an under-strength team.

Angolan ladies train at the KCB Sports Den,Ruaraka on Thika Road -Photo courtesy of NMG



The corporate involvement too has been wanting but I can't blame them, numbers have to be right for them. For the current tournament, Coca-Cola Kenya has decided to cool your thirst with a free drink on entrance. The games will be played at the Nyayo National Gymnasium due to accessibility though in my thinking, Kasarani sports centre would have been a bigger and better venue for the games.
With the KBF Play-offs taking a back seat before knowing the ultimate winners, the clubs involved had better send their technical teams there and take notes. Cameras and digital cameras are affordable these days so no excuses. Schools on holiday can send their players too to learn the basics of the game from Africa's finest.
Let's learn a thing or two and hope to see you all there !
Read more on this here .