Vusumuzi Dube
Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter
BASKETBALL Union of Zimbabwe (Buz) president, Joe Mujuru, says the association aims to place more emphasis on capacitating referees and coaches by hosting international training programmes.
Mujuru highlighted the importance of having well-trained referees and coaches in order to raise the standard of the game in Zimbabwe.
“As the governing body of basketball in Zimbabwe, we recognise that our referees and coaches are the backbone of the sport. It is imperative that we invest in their training and development, so that they can effectively impart their knowledge and skills to the players,” said Mujuru.
He said they are in talks with Fiba to have international courses.
“We are committed to providing our referees and coaches with the necessary tools and expertise to excel in their roles. We believe that by capacitating them, we can improve the overall quality of the game in Zimbabwe and make our national teams
more competitive on the international stage.
Our goal is to create a pool of highly qualified coaches who can develop and nurture the talents of our young players. We believe that this will have a positive impact on the sport as a whole and help us to achieve our vision of becoming one of the top basketball nations in Africa,” he said.
Mujuru also underscored that they are already planning for the national championships to be held in May when provincial leagues conclude.
According to the new national championships format, in the men’s category, automatic qualification will be awarded to the top four Harare Basketball Association (HBA) teams and the top two teams from the Bulawayo Basketball Association (BBA).
A province has to have at least four teams participating in their provincial league to be considered for this national league.
It follows therefore that Mashonaland East, West, Matabeleland North and South do not meet these requirements and will not be taking part.
The men’s pool for the national league will have 10 teams with the women’s having eight teams. These numbers include defending champions.
HBA hosts both champions in this case.
Bongani Ndlovu