Elite basketball comes to Bulawayo

LOOKING for the perfect way and place to spend your Sunday in the City of Kings and Queens? Then look no further than Khanyisile Sports Centre.

This is a place to be on a Sunday afternoon in the coming few months. In a bid to create a renewed spark of interest in the sport of basketball, Bulawayo Basketball League (BBA) has set up a men’s Elite League which is meant to redirect the trajectory of basketball in the city.

Here you get your perfect Sunday leisure spot, with Braai, Car Wash, and entertainment all on offer while the main attraction is the basketball games on the main court. From now on, Sunday’s at Khanyisile Sports Centre will be more than just a basketball competition with a carnival atmosphere expected.

The basketball fathers realised there was a huge gap between the top four teams in the men’s league and the rest of the other teams which is why they decided to come up with the Elite League which will only be competed for by six teams.

The six teams will play each other four times per season. Four teams gained automatic entry to the league after securing a top four finish last season and the quartet are Legends, Mavericks, Lakers and Giants. The other two teams are Highlanders, who finished first in the B league and Nust A, who qualified through play-offs.

They will play on a designated day which is Sunday.

BBA secretary-general Francis Dube says they want to make Sunday basketball a must-attend event.

“While this will be a highly competitive league, we also want to make Khanyisile a leisure spot. This should be a place where everyone wants to be on a Sunday afternoon.

“This will go a long way in creating an unmatched interest in basketball. This way we will be able to attract those who have never had any experience with the game, in the hope of them falling in love with the game,” said Dube.

Basketball Union of Zimbabwe (Buz) president Joe Mujuru praised Bab for what he termed a noble initiative.

“We are hopeful this competition will not only be a success in terms of creating more competition but also in helping make the sport famous again. As Buz we can only be excited when associations come up with such initiatives that help in the development of basketball,” said Mujuru.

Back in the day, basketball was counted as one of the most popular sport codes among the “hip” youth. On any match day, the courts would fill up as lovers of the ball and the hoops looked up to be entertained. This was in the grand years of the 1980s and early 90s.

Thereafter, the game took a dive. A myriad of problems dogged the once well administered game in the country. Player development initiatives were stopped or just abandoned. The game’s leaders by the time had the burden to make it “business as usual” but reality would not allow it. Players left in droves. Some called it quits. Teams folded. In that fall, the game was almost forgotten. Those who belonged to it, took a break, if at all, some played in their backyards as a pastime.

The sight of a number of basketball courts that are idle and dilapidated, is testimony of a long lost spark in the game.

Young people of school-going age in Bulawayo back then were defined by their love for the game and those in their mid-40s will remember in particular the early 1990s when just moving around holding a basketball spoke volumes and determined their status among their peers.

Elite League Fixtures

Sunday:Highlanders v Southern Mavericks, Legends v NUST, Giants v Lakers

— @innocentskizoe