Basketball in Africa

The Nairobi Basketball Association will this Saturday kick off the first youth basketball league that will have teams in age group categories of U-12, U-15 and U-18 for both genders with games set to played every third Saturday of the month.
Four teams namely Kayole, Kibera and Langata will have teams participating in the under 12 category for boys. In the girls under 12, category, Kamukunji, Langata, Kayole and Mennonites will be active.

According to NBA chairman Ronnie Owino, the league will kick off with existing youth programmes with an agenda of expanding it further.
“To kick off the league, we have attracted the participation of three teams for the girls under 12, and five teams for the boys under 12.”
“Many successful basketball players attribute their success to solid basketball fundamentals and strong values - both of which are only well groomed in controlled environment. The league will serve as a foundation for growing a grassroots basketball programme where kids start playing the game early,” he noted.
The chairman said it is sad most basketball players in Kenya interact with the game for the first time when they reach high school. Also most of high schools do not have trained coaches and thus basic basketball skills are missed.
“In future, we would like to see children in Nairobi playing basketball from when they are 10 and below. The league will be combined with coaching drills from time to time so as to make sure that we are achieving good results in nurturing talent.”

The NBA has also announced that it encourages capable groups and institutions who feel they can comply with the regulations of the league and can be able to support youth teams to get in touch with the association so that the teams can be enrolled