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Leonard Ncube in Victoria Falls
TWENTY-THREE schools competed in the 2019 National Association of Secondary School Heads (Nash) Under-20 Top Schools Basketball Tournament held at Mosi-oa-Tunya High School at the weekend.
The two-day tournament featured two schools from each province joined by the host school and defending champions in both the boys’ and girls’ categories.
Girls High School from Harare defended the championship by seeing off Kriste Mambo High from Manicaland 30-8 in the girls’ final while Bradley High from Mashonaland Central failed to retain the title after falling in the knockout stages.
Prince Edward High of Harare are the boys’ champions after beating Cyrene Boys High of Matabeleland South 49-29.
Matabeleland North were represented by Inyathi High and Mosi-oa-Tunya.
Nash head-in-charge of basketball Sithabile Moyo said the level of competition exhibited was impressive.
“This is a national tournament for the Under-20 top schools where normally each province will have their own competitions to come up with representatives for boys and girls. The level of competition was good and it shows schools are taking basketball seriously,” said Moyo, who is the head of Eveline High in Bulawayo.
She challenged schools to take basketball seriously and not view it as an elite sport.
“Not all schools are doing basketball because they think it’s for the elite because of costs, but we are the elite. It’s a game for everyone and every learner must participate,” she said.
Moyo urged rural schools to form cluster groups where they can compete on their own to improve visibility.
She said Bulawayo and Harare schools are at an advantage as most of their players belong to basketball clubs and have more exposure and game time.
Matabeleland North deputy provincial education director Beatrice Manjere encouraged learners to take sport seriously and emulate people like Marvelous Nakamba from Hwange district, who recently signed for English Premiership side Aston Villa.
“I am impressed by the level of discipline and skills exhibited by the players. The competition was high among teams and the best teams won. Sport has become number one employer and career worldwide and I therefore urge you to emulate Marvelous Nakamba, who is from here in Hwange district,” she said.
The 23 teams were pooled and the top two proceeded to quarter-finals.
In the girls’ quarter-finals, Usher lost to Nhowe 17- 31, while Girls High beat Founders 37-6.
Kwekwe High beat Mosi-oa-Tunya 22-8 and Kriste Mambo beat Howard 21-13.
In the boys’ category, Serima lost to Cyrene 31-33, while Howard beat Kutama 25-19. CBC beat Mosi-oa-Tunya 26-21 and Prince Edward beat Bradley 39-17.
Nhowe lost 10-55 to Girls High and Kriste Mambo beat Kwekwe High 14-15, with Cyrene edging Howard 35-29.
In the final, it was Girls High who beat Kriste Mambo 30-8 while Cyrene lost 29-49 to Prince Edward.
Tadiwa Mabika of Girls High and Tendai Padera of Prince Edward were voted the most valuable players for the girls’ and boys’ categories respectively. — @ncubeleon
Online Reporter