Basketball in Africa

By Dann O’werre

Five basketball players from Moi Nairobi Girls School will visit USA next year on an exchange programme, courtesy of Alcatel Lucent.

The organisation has sent a team of 17 to Kenya for the programme and, in the entourage, are professionals who include engineers, Information Technology experts and high school players to promote the game and encourage the girls to take up science in school.
Diana L Tyson, co-founder and also team leader, said the five players will be assessed on today and those picked will be hosted at the Rutgers University in New Jersey. They will also visit the members of the team in their homes.
"We are looking for teenage girls who are good in maths and science so that we can introduce them to the world of engineering," said Tyson.
She said the five Kenyan players will make the once-in-a-life time trip with 15 others who will be identified from Rwanda, Liberia and Benin. The camp will have 100 participants and many coaches from USA will tap talent there.
Alcatel Lucent, who are marking their 10th anniversary, have been to 18 countries worldwide on a similar mission.
"The school team is good. They are hard working and disciplined. They shoot well and, with the practises they have been undergoing, they should do well," said Tyson. She said engineering is for most talented and not about gender.
She said when the players go to the US next year, they will mix with the other girls to play sports and in cultural inter-relations.
The US players are all at the school where they interact with the students academically and socially at all times.
The group will visit Kibera slums on their final day where they and the school girls will be engaged in a mock game for the residents in a Unicef-sponsored school.
The girls have benefited from the coaching skills of tactician Chari Cooper, who is a former college player at Kane University.
She said the week long camp that has seen the girls play together with the seven high school Americans, has motivated them and they now know they have a chance in the game.
"They are adapting well. They are open to learning and everyday they get better," said Cooper, who is headed for Europe to play in the Italian national women’s league.
Jo Wilson, who is an engineer based in the UK, said most girls want to be doctors or engineers. "Sometime back, it was not easy to find women engineers, but now in every 10 people in this profession, there are three women," she said.
The school headmistress, Jael Mureithi, said the programme will see her girls travel to the US on an exchange programme was initiated "by a friend of the school."
The visitors wanted to visit a school that performs well in academics and sports so they can relate well.
"The visit has been a blessing for Moi Girls School," said the head teacher adding, "they could have have gone to any other school."
Equally elated was the schools games instructor and coach, Kibe Gitau.. He predicted that the school that has produced Usiu and national team play-maker, Samba Mjomba, will make history next year.
"The school has done well in volleyball, hockey and handball. From now, I expect the basketball programme to pick up as the girls will be playing more," he said.