‘Morans’ keeping their spear heads razor sharp

Despite the rude coronavirus interruption, Kenya’s national basketball squad members are not losing focus on upcoming assignments with improvised training the game changer.

Following public health warnings against assembly and encouraging social distance, the “Morans” skipper Griffin Ligare has, for instance, had to make do with parking lot training in Nairobi to stay in shape.

Elsewhere, the Kenya Basketball Federation is maintaining team and technical bench cohesion with, inter alia, online programmes including training of the game’s medical personnel and coaches lined up.

The coronavirus pandemic has stalled sports globally but Ligare, a point guard, says it’s important to keep the eye on the ball, literally and figuratively.

“We cannot go to our usual training grounds at YMCA Shauri Moyo and the Nyayo National Stadium and this means we have to work wherever we are - and that is, basically, at home - with the small amount of space we have,” Ligare told Nation Sport at the weekend.

“To work out at home is not easy. It’s very tough but we just have to motivate each other as a team by calling each other and staying fit since we cannot train as a team. Our goal this year is to qualify for the Afro Basket tournament.”

This is a feeling shared by “Morans” shooting guard Tyler Okari.

Okari believes Kenya will brush aside stiff competition expected from their three opponents at the Afro-Basket round of 20 games later in the year to qualify for the tournament proper next year.

Fiba Africa, the continental basketball governing body, has maintained that all its activities planned from October and beyond would go ahead as scheduled should the world basketball governing body, Fiba World, give the go-ahead for competition to resume after the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking to Nation Sport after the Fiba Africa regional meeting via Zoom on Sunday, the body’s regional secretary general Vitalis Ogode said all the regional activities remain suspended. The meeting, which was chaired by Fiba Africa regional president Hesham Elhariri of Egypt and attended by 11 zonal presidents, also put in place logistics to organise an online development clinics for coaches, referees and medical teams during this period of travel restrictions.

According to Gode, the medical and online coaching clinics were meant to start on Monday with three participants each from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Egypt, Rwanda, Burundi, Eritrea and Somalia

America-based Tanzania medical doctor Edward Omega is expected to conduct the medical course which will also touch on Covid-19 precautions.

“We know there are travel restrictions and have, therefore, decided to take full advantage of this to conduct medical, refereeing and coaches clinic online for capacity building before activities resume,” he said.

According to Gode, the Under-18 championship that was set for Kampala in June is tentatively set for October, the same as the women’s club championships which is set for Dar as salaam while the Afro-Basket champion is set for November.