Chronicle Editor
Nkosilathi Sibanda, [email protected]
BUDDING basketball players in Victoria Falls will receive with excitement the establishment of an academy, which is expected to help grow the sport in the resort city.
Not much of basketball action has been witnessed in Victoria Falls and the launch of the academy was also a platform to showcase unheralded talent from Matabeleland North.
The project, which has been in the pipeline for long, will be of great benefit to potential players and is overseen by basketball enthusiasts and stakeholders in the city of Victoria Falls.
Matabeleland North Top Teams League co-ordinator Brighton John Musaidzi told Zimpapers Sports Hub the new academy will provide youngsters with more options and opportunities.
“The Victoria Falls Basketball Academy is being established soon. The primary focus is on growing grassroots basketball. The academy aims to introduce the sport to under privileged communities in the town’s periphery mostly rural areas, as well as setting up a functional junior basketball league. Discussions with stakeholders are at an advanced stage for the academy,” said Musaidzi who is also the head coach and manager of Victoria Falls Panthers club.
In order to be a fully functional sports institute, Musaidzi points out that Victoria Falls Basketball Academy has to hire competent personnel.
Poorly trained coaches have contributed to the dearth of the sport in the past and that has to be corrected as the new academy readies to start, he believes.
“The new academy is working on a provincial policy to train more coaches and officials to prevent untrained coaches from training school children.
This is because most of the coaching received by school kids is inadequate, which has hindered the provincial growth of the sport.
“The policy framework aims to register all coaches in the province, train them on child protection policies, and make basketball courts a safer place for children to play on, learn and grow, thereby protecting them from random people interacting with them.”
As a development programme that contributes to community activity in the tourist city, Musaidzi said it is expected that Victoria Falls Basketball Academy will receive support from the business community and civil leadership.
“Of course support from all sectors will be needed. This is not only for the sport but for the community. The benefit that young players will get from training at the academy is going to contribute to community wellbeing.
“Sport is a business and when talented players go elsewhere to make a living through the sport, a change of lifestyles for the better will be realised. Players in areas outside Victoria Falls will be exposed to a new world of possibilities in basketball. Support is needed,” said the seasoned sports administrator. —@NkosieLegend
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter