Update from Serbia 2009 World Student Games…
Full team taking part in the competition is provided below. So far the team played their opening pool games against Germany and Latvia and lost both unfortunately. Their next hurdle is against Japan, who they will be playing tonight; let’s hope the feedback is better.
Article by Victor Shakineza with information from Denwin Jones
Hard Luck on the Japan loss but there were signs of improvement especially on the offensive end but a lot more defense is needed.We cant be having teams scoring 100 and expect to win.
Lets go kill Korea!!
Which begs the question, is our participation merely a trip or are there to compete? Basically, do we deserve to participate and why is there no qualification process for this event?
Joe
So every tournament we do badly is a mere trip,we havent even seen them play for 1 to conclude that they are not competing.Why do you think we dont deserve to compete?
I believe that the FISU games should go through the African qualifiers just like the Olympics and the World games to ensure that only the best get to compete at this level.
However may main reason for my stance is that this will ensure that USSA basketball prioritises development by investing in a tertiary league. Also this will force USSA to work very closely with schools to ensure that players are ready for high level bball by the time they enter tertiary.
As I always argue our development efforts are NOT intergrated hence we are slow to see the results and sometimes do not see them at all. To sound like a scratched CD or a corrupt MP3 file, Cricket and Rugby in SA are succesful cause their development efforts are intergrated from mini to national level.
It is my opinion that our participation in this Elite events without working hard for them has inculcated the culture of complacency in bball. As bball we seem to lack the militancy required to elevate the standard of play, except for exceptional cases like KZN.
In SA we are so concentrated with elite bball at the expense of everything else eg provincial structures still disorganised, school baskeball still uncoordinated, USSA basketball still operates amateurishly and BSA has become a national teams preparation organisation.
Joe
I agree with you and I think thats what FASU is trying to do(qualification) when they met about 3 days ago to address these issues.In that meeting it was reported that more than 15 countries still dont have any National University Sport Federations in Africa.I am sure that many countries would love to go a compete but they dont have structures let alone the finances to participate.
To my understanding not all games are on a qualification basis and the issue here should not be on whether we qualify or not but be on the issues that you raise which talk to ensuring that basketball seeks to profeesionalise the way they do things.USSA may come up with a tertiary league but if we cant have well worked camps for teams going to this tournament then either way we wont be doing justice to the sport.
I dont think the issue should be the eliteness or not of the tournaments but be around the manner in which basketball is run…PERIOD!!
LET THE CHILDREN PLAY!!!
Kim and Joe
let me come with a different view. i appreciate the fact that we compete in this events wether qualified or not. the issue is what have we learned after the games and all the travelling. yes,for players is experience given that they had the opportunity to compete with some of the best countries. which i think we can see the results with our current Senior Men and Womens teams. most of these players played at FISU so many years that it eventually rubbed in positively hence the hunger and passion they show when they play.
the problem is coming to our officials. what do they learn. ZERO. it would therefore be unfair to deny the players and coaches the opportunity to go out there and gauge their competency level because of power hungry individuals with no direction.
Joe, you made mention of cricket and will disagree with you on their developments. yes, on face value we see an elite sport with much organisation and yet it is not organised. there are only a few elite schools that excel in cricket and therefore blind everyone else. lucky they have all the money and their teams have academies but apart from that, they more like basketball. unorganised at grassroot level. they are not different to us having provincials every year and selecting a team. they just have money to fund 20 camps before major events which we do not have.
going back, we should now be focusing on what happened to school ball where we can develop the sport. why can’t most our schools be like DHS in order to create a pool of players? what happens to our township schools in terms of ball development? what are we doing as Joe, Kim, Baller and the rest to ensure that we help our schools have ball. that will automatically translate to the communities.
what am trying to highlight is that we have been complaining about BSA for donkey years now and nothing has changed. why can’t we go out and do something positive for our own sport at grassroot and not the senior teams as we most focus on. maybe we should have a different attitude since our complaining is not helping us.
i accept that am not doing anything for ball except being a spectator and have discussions about BSA this and that which is wrong. i can tell you, GBL is starting again and we will be here complaining again. then BWB we complain. national team coach so and so we complain. senior provincials we complain. i can bet some of us might be having small hurt attacks with all the complaining about BSA. so,its good for our health to focus on the positives and try building from there.
hopefully the powers that be will one day wake up from their coma and come to the party.
thats my 10 cents worth.
PS: i am not employed by BSA or know their landline. BWB is around the corner. am trying to be on their good side maybe i’ll be invited before Kim.
Baller
Couple of years ago there more kids playing bball at my Kasi (Duduza) than cricket, however this has now become the other way round, proof that their programme is better than ours.
Kim
The statement that “Let The Children Play” emphasises my point that we lack the militancy to put things right. As long as we are happy that some benefit from the currrent dispensation we are never going to channel our resources to the priorities ie development. For as long as I have been involved in bball the above statement has always being used as an excuse not to do things right.
we dont have a pro league in south africa and we send our senior squad to play professionals in african national squads to try qualify for african tornaments lol
now the young students are playing in serbia and we expect them to do their best,
wow dig a hole
Baller
I respect your analysis but not ALL of us come to mybasketball and complain, some of us actually work and try build our community and clubs.
Joe
Let the children clearly put is that we shouldnt punish the players for crimes that they havent committed.Lets us as administrators and coaches deal with all these problems.How do expect to have players that are able to compete at an international level when the only tournaments they have we deny them the platform to go and compete.
Now we want to make our problems theirs and that is not the way to do it.Call it militacy or whateva name but we are basically wanting to punish players.Who said these issues can not be resolved whilst players play.So if we had a structure that didnt want to address issues for 5 years then players would suffer cos of poor administration,I totally disagree with you Joe.
Take the issue with the senior national team,Zane correctly asks how do we expect to compete when we dont play professionally and administer professionaly.Should that mean that we dont go to Libya cos proper camps are not organised.Lets fix our problem and………..
LET THE CHILDREN PLAY!!
Gud Luck to the boys today against Korea.
Kim
Strategic management dictates that before we can even begin to act we need to plan. For us to be able to plan we need to do a SWAT analysis. The aim of this exercise is to be able to identify our priorities. It is these priorities that dictates your financial planning and business plan.
In basketball we have ALWAYS identified development and administration as our priorities but we have ALWAYS channelled most of our resources and energy to Elite bball. For any strategic management guru this scenario is not only abnormal it is very counter productive, hence our never ending struggle to develop bball.
Angola is not participating in these games but they are the number 1 bball nation in Africa. This shows that we do not need to participate in these games for bball to develop. While Angola is focusing its energies on development we are busying ourselves on events which develop only the Elite ballers at the expense of the rest of bball.
For me, what is the point of sending a select group of players to these events when there is no competition for them when they come back home. How is a player supposed to develop when they get challenged only once a year during the international calendar.
Therefore Kim, I am not arguing that we should STOP THE KIDS FROM PLAYING, I am merely advocating that we need to prioritise where, with whom and how they play. If we fail to do this, as we have in the past, 4yrs from now we will still be singing the same song we have sung since PBL:
LET THE KIDS PLAY, EVEN IF IT MEANS KILLING BASKETBALL!!!
Maybe we should move from the same background.What is considered to be development?Do we not consider FISU to be development or do we take it to be elite?With the under 16 going to Zim for the games,was that developmental or elite?Do you mean to say that if we concentrate on development then we need to abandon the rest of the programmes?
Angola have participated in the past 2 world student games(2005 and 2007 and so has Mozambique(ladies).Are you aware of the issues as to why they have not gone this year?By them having participated would that have made my case any stronger?I dont think so and should be a non issue.
This scenario that if your strategic objective is development and thus everything must stop is incorrect.Development SHOULD be the main strategic priority of basketball in this country(that I DEFINATELY) agree with but these issues are not mutual exclusive.Just like in any organisation there will be key priorities but doesnt mean other strategic objectives are not as important.Just because government has identified 5 priorities for the next 5 years,that doesnt mean that all the other issues should not be addressed.
The biggest problem is we will continue arguing with each other where as we dont even have information on what BasketballSA is planning to do.They havent communicated anything and thus we have taken the decision that development is not hig on their agenda.Communication comuncation communication.
LET THE KIDS PLAY and WE FIX OUR MESS.NO MATTER WHO CREATED IT.
Kim
It seems you know something I don’t.
We know what BSA has planned for the national team in the coming months, but please share what grassroots development BSA, USSA and Schools WILL BE DOING AND HOW for the next six months and I will convert to a believer.
Till then,
LET SOME KIDS PLAY
Joe
You not understanding my point.I dont know ANYTHING that BSA organises.They work in themanner in which we all see.Nothing comes from BSA as an institution and thus we will forever be in this dabacle.Even the website that is created still hasnt had any information besides the Stratetgic Objectives which speak to development as well.They havent then come and informed us on the how part which is basically what you(me included)would like to know.Please dont put me in the believer category as yet(hahahaha) up until I get information on planned programmes as well as the implementation.
If BSA is functioning as a National Team preparation team then too bad but then lets no make particapation the issue but lets focus on the WRONGS that the board is doing.I dont plan to be ignorant even though I dont agree with the manner in which BSA are doing things.BasketballSA have posted a list of programmes that they intend to do up to 2010.These talk to referes,mini basketball,provincial leagues,coaches,under 16,under 18,under 19,national teams etc……
All programmes are not communicated to the provinces and thus Sanele communicated his frustrations.What is the plan?Your guess is as good as mine but lets not blame the national teams participation in the FISU for that as I THINK you were trying to do by implying that is was a USELESS tournament for them to attend.
Kim
On the contrary, I always look forward to international events like FISU. However what I am having issues with is that we seem to be content with the fact that we are merely participating.
I am not happy with fact that we are there to make the numbers, I want our teams to go to these events knowing that they are going to be competetive, this is the whole point Elite events.
I firmly believe that administrators have used our participation in these events as a shield against the lack of organising meaningful programmes that speaks directly to our developmental agenda. The elite competitions should not be our priority.
To elaborate, for years school basketball has used the government organised Wiinter and Summer games as their programmes when they have no leagues or other competitions to show. For years SASSU basketball has used the FISU and the SASSU organised events to dodge questions about the CBL or any other programmes. For years BSA has used the International events as an excuse for the lack of other programmes.
The reason I am saying we lack militancy is because the “new” BSA, USSA and School executives are continuing with the above trend and we are praising them for a job well done.
For me, enough is enough, it is about time that we join the “STRIKE against poor service delivery” movement by withdrawing our compliments to the administrators and highlight the need for REAL action rather than the smokescreens used to pacify us.
In case some are wondering my status has chaged from being an adminstrator to a passionate fan and therefore I have no interest to be elected to any of the structures.
And as a fan I ask, where is where is CBL, where is the national league, MORE IMPORTANTLY where is SLAMDUNK, where is the Engen U18, ? The demise of the first two can be blamed on the previous executives, but the last two rest squarely on the shoulders of the current executive.
Joe
When you put it like that then I can begin to support you.Let me give you an example of this USSA issue.Sometime in December I interacted with numerous people in preparation for the 2009 season with regards to the USSA ladies team.Myself and my assistant Mandla were busy preparing a programme to be sent to USSA basketball.In this program we were raising so that we dont go and just participate.Since the January letter I sent them,I havent heard anything.
I agree that poor service delivery is eminent amongst our sport.Just imagine,A USSA ladies team wasnt selected because they were not going to FISU.Do we have to pick SA teams only for tournaments that happen within that year.What about the outer years.Visionless people share continue doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.Thats why I have stopped complaining and just work and assist where I can because even if we complain,nothing will be done.We are just barking for good nothing..
Joe
Apparently there will be an under 18 tournament in September as we had FS trials for that about 2 weeks ago.Communication to that effect??I havent seen anything(lol).We have a board member in the FS remember(haha)
Baller
I have decided to put my dream of BWB to a halt.I have realised that there are thinks that can be changed and that there are things that will remain constant.The only thing I can do is try expose my players to games and try teach fundamentals.I will be on a spree to ensure we play international teams,teams from other provinces and we will start helping with disadvantaged schools.We will be having a basketball festival with teams from Lesotho,PE etc but we will communicate that when I finalise the details.Otherwise we will be saying the same thing since 2004 till 2012.
Kim and All those involved with grassroots bball
Please accept my gratitude for the job that you do at grassroots level and I wish you all the best of luck in your efforts.
wish you all the best of luck in your efforts.
you gave up long time ago(hahahaha).Dont worry I know the feeling