FIBA Africa Zone VI Club Champs

Date: 11 November 2011

South Africa is proud to host the 2011 FIBA (Federation Internationale Basketball Association) Africa Zone VI Club Championship (sponsored by ESPN) from November 14th to 21st, 2011 at the Mandeville Sports Club (near Eastgate Shopping Center). This will also present an opportune occasion to officially launch the NBA Africa office and the introduction of BBall, a new lifestyle television show on SABC1 on Saturday afternoons.

The tournament is expected to be of highest level,featuring some of the major African basketball clubs namely; Maxaquene and Deportivo De Maputo of Mozambique, Angolan Petro De Luanda and Primeiro De Agosto; currently holding the record of 14 national titles in the Angolan Pro-league and 7 African Club Championship titles. Mzansi will be represented by Soweto Wildcats aptly lead by the formidable Quentin Denyssen and TsakaniNgobeni, who are set to bring the element of surprise to this high level basketball profession. The feature match will commence at the Mandeville Sports Club at 19h00, Monday 14th November, where the Soweto Wildcats wil be playing against a Zambian club.

” Our patience in rebuilding the sport is starting to pay off. What a perfect relationship we have build with the SABC to contribute to the development of Basketball not only in South Africa but in SADC.TheBball Show is a necessary platform for different role players. It is for  players to showcase their talent, for sponsors who associate with the game to shine, for family members, friends and loved ones to see the talent of their beloved. We are the game”, cited Basketball SA President, Mr MaleselaMaleka.

Come mingle with the cream of SABC celebrities as they support their favourite initiatives.

Entrance to the matches is R20 and tickets can be purchased at the Mandeville Sports Club gate throughout the tournament dates.

For media queries, contact GeshConco on gatshaconco@gmail.com

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Let your game speak (Michael Jordan)

Very well done.

[and notice the subtle emphasis on the youngsters who are the future of the game!]

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The young men and the coaches that went to represent South Africa at the World Student Games went there with the best intentions but with the wrong tools or not enough of them. It’s like going to play a basketball game and when you get there you realize that you didn’t bring any balls and the hoops are not available but there are two teams and all the officials are there. My point is that I feel that this team was set up to fail from the time they were selected at the USSA tournament at the University of Pretoria earlier in the year. The team didn’t have enough depth at the post position and if that says that we don’t have depth at our tertiary institutions then all I can say is that the game at senior level is as doomed as it is at junior level. As far as the coaches are concerned, I can guarantee that there is no coach that goes into a big tournament like this with the intention to lose or not do well, so before we criticize the coaches we should ask ourselves if they were given the right material to work with from the start… That my take on the World Student Games where South Africa came 25^th out of 25 teams… Better planning from USSA next time might help the teams achieve better.The senior ladies national team, which is mostly made up of students should have also been given a chance to represent the country at the World Student games. But we know it was never going to happen and even after the 2008 USSA tourney in Cape Town, we knew that the ladies were not going. To be honest I don’t even know the real reason why they couldn’t go, some say it’s FISU, some say it’s USSA and some even say BSA but I haven’t received an answer that makes sense on why and how do we make sure they participate at the next one.

Regardless of that the ladies recently had a scheduled camp in Potchefstroom. After qualifying for the African Championships Women in Madagascar with victory over Zimbabwe, the coaching staff has been hard at work trying to get the ladies ready for any eventuality. At the moment, the tournament that was supposed to take place from the 5^th to 20^th September has apparently been postponed due to unrest in Madagascar. Going back to the Potch camp, rumour has it that the players didn’t get paid for it with BSA promising to do it at the end of the month. Let’s wait and see what transpires…

The senior men national team has been given the run around of late with confusion the order of the day. They were told that they had a camp in Potchefstroom in preparation for the William Jones Cup, then they didn’t have a camp because the tournament was postponed then it wasn’t then we found out that the tournament was in fact still taking place but that SA had pulled out at the last minute… Most of the players and probably coaching staff were perplexed at the situation and didn’t know whether to request leave or not. BSA has been keeping mum on the whole situation with no communication to say what was really going on. The unofficial line was first that the tournament was postponed and when we checked the information online and found out that the tourney was still taking place, the story changed to SA pulled out… Doing some research, I found out online that SA had pulled out of the tournament because the organizers were only going to provide them with accommodation and food while BSA wanted them to fly them out there too, something that they don’t do. But my question is didn’t BSA know this before accepting the invitation to participate? If they did, it would have saved everyone the trouble of the mess that has ensued.

Back to the national team, they have been given a wild card to take part in the African Championships Men in Libya (12^th to 22^nd August) but like always they will not have enough time to prepare for it and we will end up blaming the players and coaches if they don’t do well. They haven’t had a camp to prepare for this tournament since coach Flosh Ngwenya came back and the tournament is less than a month away, I wonder what miracles can be achieved in such a short period of time. Some players are so unhappy with the situation that they don’t know if they will be given enough notice ahead of the tournament. If BSA needs help they should ask for it, I am sure that there are plenty of people willing to come onboard and help. At the end of the day, SA is made to look bad on the international stage because of last minute changes or preparations that make BSA look so unprofessional.

Article by Victor Shakineza

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Training our coaches…

Year in and year out, we have teams participating in different competitions all over the country whether it be at mini basketball, junior level or senior level and most of these teams are led by a coach, a caretaker or a teacher…

Some of these coaches have gained experience from books, DVDs, television and through the art of learning from someone else but most of them have no formal training and those are few and far in between. BSA has promised to address this void in development of coaches but until then it’s the Do It Yourself model that is the norm in the country.

Most kids in SA start playing basketball when they get to high school and that is their first contact point for the sport. Having been involved at this level, you usually get new and young coaches that mean well but don’t know how to go about channeling this enthusiasm into a productive coaching method. So they end up teaching the wrong stuff or teaching the right stuff but at the wrong level; this leads to players that don’t develop properly. These players are starving to emulate the NBA stars on television and without proper guidance they also resort to the Do It Yourself model of their coaches… They end up being exposed at provincial level or at international level where they do their best but simply don’t have the tools.

By the time these players finish high school and move into the university system they are not equipped to compete at the next level and either end up struggling to adjust for a few years or giving up the sport all together…

This vicious circle continues and that’s why there is a need for formal training for coaches and a grading system is essential especially for our national teams.

Coaching Director’s…

There is a provision in the BSA infrastructure for a coaching director and there are a few people that can probably fill this role. On the top of my head, we have Mlungisi “Flosh” Ngwenya, Thierry Kita, Kimathi Tobothi, Craig Daniels, Brenda Mutungutungu and a few others that have had some kind of involvement at senior national level. As we speak Flosh Ngwenya is doing a coaching course overseas and hopefully when he comes back he will share the knowledge he gains with other coaches…

A coaching director in my opinion is an important part of any basketball structure because he should streamline all the programs from mini up to senior level. They should enforce the style of play adopted all levels, organize coaches conventions/commissions and make sure that the proper training is provided. Make sure that the development program is implemented correctly and that there is progress made from all age groups. Liaise and work with the referees to see where they can improve standards, etc… We have a lot of basketball brains but how do you go about selecting one…

Coaches commission…

This has been mentioned a few times on this website and recently I had some correspondence from Jabulani James Mthethwa (Under 20 National men coach, Bedfordview dragons coach and founder) that convinced me to write this article. One of our regular contributors on Mybasketball, Joe Mangadi also mentioned it a few times that there was a need to get Commission for Coaches up and running for the sake of the sport.

With national teams jetting all over the world for different competitions, some people see the need for such a gathering as a priority. National teams go and take part in regional tournaments throughout Africa and most people expect them to perform and when they don’t the first person questioned is the head coach. In a normal and organized system with a functioning federation, functioning districts, functioning leagues, this would be applicable but in a South African system where everything needs to be fixed; the coach is almost set up to fail from the beginning. Most of the time the coach in question doesn’t get to pick the team that he will be taking or even if he does get to pick his squad he doesn’t have access to the complete pool of players from the country.

National teams are being selected without any form of guidelines. Players that should be in national teams are overlooked because they were not at a particular tournament or their teams/institutions didn’t qualify. Good high school players get overlooked because they were not informed of trial dates or because their school doesn’t play in a particular league. A coaches’ commission would go a long way to solve that problem if it is implemented properly with various coaches from all over the country having an input.

A coaches’ commission could come up with a plan of action and directive for the whole country and work closely with a Coaching director to make sure that it is implemented. Make sure that the junior programs and development programs are well run and supported. This will also help implement a national program for coaching clinics and help with the proper selection of coaches at provincial and national level.

All this requires vision and if we have aspirations of making it to the Olympics one day, BasketballSA needs to have that vision and a plan to get us there. By putting the different pieces into place starting with the right administrators, it will help our sport grow exponentially. At the moment we go to tournaments knowing that we will not do well and we come back and say it was a learning curve. Coaches start working with teams and after a tournament they are changed without any form of plan to let them implement a 2 year program for that team, etc… The right administrators at all level will ensure a functioning system which will lead to better policies, better districts, better provincial structures, better national structures, better government support and better support for the sport.

Article by Victor Shakineza

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With certain sectors of the game making strides to take the game to the next level especially this year, the officials have unfortunately lagged behind. Maybe you can’t blame their stagnation because like for most of us basketball in this country has been like going to a surfing competition in Durban, year after year… By that I mean that we, as the basketball community, wait for the next big wave and then after riding that wave, we sit and wait for the next one without any reassurances or continuity whatsoever that there will be a next one or how big it will be. So why should the officials strive to improve their standard and professionalism towards the game.There are some good referees in this country but these are few and far between. Some of the more experienced officials have packed their whistles away and left the game due to various reasons. Speaking to various stakeholders around the basketball community, the one word that resonates the most is accountability. You go to various national tournaments and the standard of refereeing is mediocre for the most part with some games being decided by the man in the middle. And you see the same faces, game after game, tournament after tournament, year after year; it’s like if the game is being held to ransom by a few and there is no development of new talent or continuous training for the current crop. Most of these referees get paid for their services and the same cannot be said for some of the administrators, coaches and players that play the game for the love of it.

I recently attended the USSA tournament at the University of Pretoria and the standard of refereeing was shocking and there was almost an unsavory incident during the men’s final. A day later, I watched the Chinese Easter tournament also held in Pretoria and it was strange to see that the referees in attendance were better graded apart from 1 or 2. Why you ask? My immediate assumption was that maybe they got a better rate per game than they did for the USSA tournament. If that was the case it is a sad state of affairs considering that one of the referees present at the Chinese Easter tournament is the national technical administrator in charge of all that is technical and the referees and their training fall into his portfolio. And the crisis is not only at senior level but also at high school level where there is no structure and development programs for officials.

I took a chance to speak to a few people that are currently involved in the game from all over the country. I have contribution from Craig Daniels, who is heavily involved in basketball in Western Cape through Montana Vikings and currently coaches the senior national ladies team; Craig Gilchrist, who has an impressive basketball CV at national level as a player and was nominated as an assistant coach to the senior national men’s’ team; they both spoke to us during the SA team camp at the HPC in Pretoria and I also took some comments that Tshiamo Ngakane made about the same topic on The’Hood (http://thehood.mybasketball.co.za ). Tshiamo is the GBL general manager and is heavily involved with the Wits basketball club.

Craig Daniels believes that there is no national standard of referees; everyone is doing their own thing. There is no accountability, no evaluation of the referees so that they can improve. As much as the players and coaches need international exposure, our local referees also need it. So maybe bringing in international referees to do clinics and referee a few games can help.

Craig Gilchrist simply said that we live in the land of the referees. There is no control, no structure, no grading system, and no accountability. The standard is not good and there is a need for continuous monitoring and funding to train the referees. We need to get overseas experience to come in and assess the situation and improve the level.

Tshiamo’s comments were taken straight from The’Hood unedited.

“Interesting.

The game requires improved standards at all levels. You have a situation where administration is poor and there is a lack of activity and a bunch of people try to step in and make improvements that they believe they can make. You have poor media coverage, lack of available information and a lack of platforms like this one so that people can find out more and discuss the game….and again a bunch of people step in and try and do what they can. Everybody that is dearly passionate about this game steps in where they can to improve the game out of love and dedication to that love. All those people also sell others something when they take that step. And naturally we buy. So the guys that manage basketball need to manage it better. Vic says he’ll get the information out there and I believe him….and I hold him to that…I dont expect anything less from Vic because he took on that responsibility. Nobody said they would pay Vic, in fact nobody even really cares how Vic is making his money but we expect to have the platform and coverage because he committed.

Management must be better because they committed themselves to this.

Coaches should be better because they make a commitment to their players. They should not wait for a clinic to be held to find more information about how to be a better coach. They can do they own research.

Players make a commitment to themselves, their coaches and their fans. They should improve. As a fan I’m not sitting concerned on a daily basis about whether GBL players are earning enough. I’m a fan of Wits basketball…genuine…through and through. I don’t sit there watch and think up all kinds of excuses of why losses happen. Work harder. Sacrifice. When a bunch of people from res come down to watch Wits, if we lose they don’t sit there and say well they don’t have to play well cause they had assignment to do this week. The players committed to representing something or someone and they ought to go all out in doing that regardless.

OFFICIALS!!! They commit too! And before anything else, before discussion about resources, if they commit…then they should do everything in their powers to make sure that they officiate properly because they have undertaken to do that. Administrators in ball don’t get paid for doing their jobs. Its wrong and it needs to change. But that is the case and while they are there they ought to do their jobs to the best of their abilities. Officials are the same. They are the only ones in basketball that have never volunteered their services to the sport. THE ONLY ONES! And so be it. They should get paid. They should get paid better than what they are getting paid now…no doubt. But then so should everyone else and payment has never been an excuse for everyone else. It should not be an excuse for the officials. I don’t accept that Yani could have done table better if we paid her more. She committed to it, went to clinics and did her best when she was getting paid jack. People make sacrifices not only for their own benefit but also in aid of the game. So Naftal became an international official because he took his own money and paid to travel to Moz for accreditation, paid out of his own pocket to into Africa for accreditation clinics and so on. He then ends up officiating all over the world in international competitions including the commonwealth games. Now Naftal did all of this when officials were getting paid less than what they are getting paid now. Sacrifice. I don’t know all of them but I wish there were more stories of officials like this. The reality is we could have better officials out there if officials were committed to being better and not committed to being paid more. If all us are only committed to being better if we get paid more then players might as well not go to practice for the next couple of years, neither should coaches and management might as well shut down ball until a sponsor comes and pays us all.

That said the powers that be should do everything to make sure standards all around should improve. We are not only concerned with officials but everything that is required to make the basketball product more appealing to lovers of the game. That means media, team managers, coaches, players, officials and even spectators. More clinics, yes. Incentives, yes. Better accreditation….eish…apparently GBA is supposed to handle this….but yes…i think GBL is handling.” By Tshiamo Ngakane – GBL management (www.gbl.co.za )

What is your take on the situation and how do we improve it. I don’t think that throwing money at the problem will be the solution because if you are a bad referee, you will not become a better one by being paid an extra buck so there is more that needs to be done.

Article by Victor Shakineza

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Basketball South Africa is participating in the zonal competition in the women section. SA will be hosted by Zimbabwe to play two games on Saturday and Sunday the 7^th and 8^th of March 2009 respectively in a play-off game to qualify for the 2009 women’s African championship to be hosted in Madagascar. Mozambique and Angola have already qualified so its winner takes all between Zimbabwe and South Africa.

The men’s team is camping for the second time at Mandeville Sports Center starting the 19^th March 2009 until they depart for Mozambique. The team will arrive on Friday and they will be preparing for the zone 6 qualification games in Mozambique, where they will come face to face with Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Angola has already qualified for the African Nations Cup to be held in Libya.

Under 16s

The Under 16 national tournament is taking place in Limpopo, Polokwane from the 25^th to the 28^th March 2009. All provinces have already confirmed their participation to the tournament. There will be a technical clinic to capacitate table officials and statisticians conducted by BSA which will take place in Polokwane from the 22^nd to the 24^th March 2009.

Wheel Chair basketball Supersport runs from May to September 2009. The U23s are currently in camp as preparation for the world cup in France in July 2009.03.05

Information provided by Charles Foster and edited by Victor Shakineza

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Champion has over the years built an impressive sports heritage and more specifically basketball heritage, over nearly 90 years since being first established in 1919 in Rochester, New York, USA.

Our long term partnership with FIBA, basketball’s global controlling body which runs to 2016, is but just one sign of this commitment to basketball and sport in general. The other partnership is our ongoing, 20 year old representation as exclusive licensee of the NBA Authentic game wear. As part of helping kick-start the sport of basketball and leveraging our basketball connection, we have Champion Slam Time.

• Champion Slam Time is a fun filled experiential programaimedat creating an exciting event for all andeveryone can participate in it.
• SlamTime seeks to create a platform for basketball lovers, spectators and players to express themselves. It’sfun, fast paced andenergy filled.
• Slam Time free andanyone who thinks theyhave something special to share can join in the fun. It’s the ultimate people’s event. Oh andthere are great prizes to be won.
• The category winners all go into the draw for the once in a lifetime opportunity to attend a NBA Live Tour event in Europe in 2009.
• There willbe 3-on-3′s,3-pointshooting, there will be a specialquiz called”know your game” , the free-styling game for the outrageously skilled and unconventional.
• We are also creating a special competition for the media; Championwill take onelucky member of the media on this trip chosen for being the biggest supporter of the sport of basketball.

We invite members if the media to come and cover the festive fun or let your readers/listeners know where to come and Slam. The events that are currently scheduled are:

• Johannesburg , Burgers Walk, Michaelangelo Towers West Entrance (next to Fashion TV , Sandton) – 18-20 December 2008 from 12 noon to 3pm
• Cape Town, St Georges Mall intersection Waterkant 15-19 December 2008 from 12h30 – 2pm

I have attached the leaflet being distributed with all the information you need to know about this event. For more information you can also visit our website www.champion-sa.co.za for the latest news on this and more. This event is also proudly supported by Fashion TV, Sneakers, ESPN and Pimp Juice.

leaflet

Information supplied by Sgwili Gumede

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Important notice:

• 1. The following important documents have been attached further down on this document, please ensure that you go through them thoroughly as they may have an impact on your club during the season.
• a. League rules & regulation
• b. League Release, Waiver and Indemnity
• c. Team, player & supporter registration forms
• d. League fees
• 2. Important dates:
• a. Club registration cut off dates: 31^st Dec 2008. The club/team registration form must be filled in and faxed to Manny before the end of Dec 2008 to confirm your space in the league (pending fees payable)
• b. Registration fee payable
• i. 50% before 15^th Feb 2009
• ii. Other 50% before 30^th April 2009
• c. Tip off date: Sat 28^th Feb 2009
• d. Meeting with clubs managers to discuss league issues, rules and regulations: Sat 31^st Jan 2009 (venue to be confirmed)
• 3. First round fixture will be made available on our website www.gbl.co.za early Jan once club registration has been confirmed
• 4. All important information, documents, fixture changes et al, will be communicated via our website www.gbl.co.za therefore teams are recommended to check the website everyday for any updates. No emails will be sent to teams/clubs.
• 5. Requirements from clubs:
• a. Please provide the club logo to be placed on the player cards
• b. Please provide player details, see player card provided below for all the required information about each player
• c. Team name must clearly indicate the community the team represents (e.g. no more Raptors, the name must be Soweto Raptors, or whatever area Raptors represent). Institutions, Companies and established clubs (e.g. UJ, Momentum and Wanderers Scorpions/Chinese All Stars) are excluded from this as their name already indicates the communities they represent. The new name must be provided with the registration form when the team registers.

For more information or clarity, please contact:

Emmanuel “Manny” Mabusa

League Administrator

Tel: 011 494 4077 | Cell: 076 574 3161 | fax2email 0865449846 | Email: manny@darkchild.co.za Or manny@prosportconsulting.co.za

On behalf of Pro Sport Consulting management team, I would like to thank you in advance for your corporation and dedication to the league.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards

Cabby Magongwa

Pro Sport Consulting (Marketing & Communication)

List of teams that have shown interest to play in the GBL 2009

2009-gauteng-basketball-league-release

2009-gbl-schedule-of-fees

gbl-rules-and-regulations

player-registration-form

supporter-registration-form

team-registration-form

Information supplied by Cabby Magongwa

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The electors were all the nine Provincial Chairpersons and the Six Affiliated members of Basketball South Africa General Assembly.

The contact point for Basketball South Africa will be the President Mr Malesela Maleka and the National Administrator, Mr Tsepo Nyewe.

The BSA board members as elected on 26^th October 2008 at Olympic House:

* Please note that mybasketball is in possession of every board member contact details so if you require them send us an email at info@mybasketball.co.za and we will gladly forward them to you.

Information supplied by Tsepo Nyewe

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With all that basketball has gone through since the mid-90′s, the launch of the
GBL is one that is most anticipated by players and fans alike, and one that we
believe is the birth of the rebuilding of basketball not only in Gauteng, but
in the country and hopefully the sub-Saharan Africa as a whole. The situation
in Basketball cannot go any worsen in this country, however we believe in the
potential growth of the sport in SA and we have drawn more inspiration from our
recent experience of the NBA game in London which just showcased the spectacle
of the game of basketball and its commercial potential in SA.

A press release before a media launch is normally not recommended at the fear of
giving all the information away, nevertheless, here is a taste of what to look
out for at the launch. As known to the basketball community at large, Gauteng
Basketball Association and Pro Sport Consulting finally reached an agreeable
working arrangement. This has resulted in one huge league being formed which
looks to increase the competitiveness of the sport in Gauteng. This move is
supported by Gauteng Department of Sport, Arts, Culture, and Recreation whose
main purpose is to see Gauteng as The Home of Champions, and we have also
managed to, in principle, secure sponsorship that will help us run the GBL as
best as the assistance we have been promised would allow. We partnered with a
publicity company whose mandate is to invite as many media representatives as
possible to help spread the word about what is happening around basketball in
Gauteng.

Our mandate as Pro Sport Consulting to GBA is to run a very successful senior
league in Gauteng, which leaves a huge opportunity for other people interested
in basketball to play their part during this historical event, and that is the
junior basketball programme. Much as our focus will be on the senior
basketball, we would like to assist those involved in junior basketball in
order to secure the future of senior basketball. This is a function we believe
must be executed at grassroots level and would require a hands on approach by
individuals dedicated to basketball in their respective areas or communities.

Suggestions from the public as to how to improve the league will be considered
but we trust that our strategy that will be presented at the media launch is
one that has been well-thought out, tried and tested, and one that is best as
the way forward to creating the best and biggest league in South Africa.

For those people who would like to attend the launch, please send your names and
the team/club(s) you represent to manny@darkchild.co.za

Due to limited seats, this will be on a first come first served basis and each
team is allowed not more than two people to attend the launch.

We hope to see you there and look forward to your support at every step of the
way.

For more information about the launch, please refer to the flyer, or else call
Manny on 011 494 4077.

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