Basketball body in new drive to search for talented youth
Wednesday, December 30, 2020
Young upcoming basketball players undergo a talent detection exercise with NBA commissioner Adam Silver at Amahoro Stadium on August 6, 2018. / Photo: File.

The National Basketball federation (FERWABA) has started a new campaign to search and develop basketball talent among the youth.

In Partnership with the Ministry of Sports, the federation is hosting a talent detection program at Amahoro Stadium which started on December 28 and will run until January 2, targeting young and aspiring basketballers between 10, 13, 14 and 16 years.

Former head coach of the National Basketball Team Moise Mutokambali is one of the coaches facilitating the programme.

The Under-10 and Under-13 youngsters train from 8:30am to 12pm while Under- 14 and Under-16 train from 2pm to 5pm.

In an interview with Times Sport, Desire Mugwiza, the President of the Rwanda Basketball Federation said the program will be held every time students are on holidays.

"This program will be permanent during school holidays. We want to select the best 100 children from it and put them in camp for about a month. From this camp, we will select some youngsters to play for junior national teams,” he said.

He added that the current program is being carried out in accordance with Covid-19 preventive measures, which include among others, testing the participants for Covid-19.

"This talent detection program is attended by youth who have already been tested for Covid-19. They will work with coaches who will be teaching them basic basketball skills,” he said

In a separate interview, Moise Mutokambali, one of the coaches said over 50 youth are taking part in the program.