The Rwanda Basketball Federation (Ferwaba) has organised a junior basketball training camp at Amahoro stadium in a bid to teach the fundamentals of the game at an early age. Over 100 girls and boys attend the daily sessions at the NPC gymnasium under the close eye of national team head coach Moise Mutokambali who said the importance of the programme is to train people who will feed the national teams in the near future. “We are running this camp to teach these young players the basics of basketball ranging from dribbling, shooting and passing to mention but a few. We want to do this every holiday season so that we follow up on their progress,” explained Mutokambali. The girls and boys are between the ages of 13-18 years and according to Mutokambali this platform will help him to select the national U-16 and U-18 teams for regional competitions next year. The national U-18 girls’ assistant coach Joseline Munyaneza expressed joy at the big turn up of young girls from schools across the country. “It is very encouraging to see a big number of girls coming for this programme. We have their contact information and will follow up with them after so that they are able to continue playing basketball even when they return to their schools,” Munyaneza said. Rwanda is planning to send a girls’ and boys’ team to next year’s Fiba Africa U-16 and U-18 tournaments.
