Suva (Fiji) - Basketball Fiji (BF) launched their Bula Hoops online program via their Facebook page during the "stay at home" order of the government.

The initiative was planned during BF's latest executive meeting to help improve their development and provide activities to basketball fans during the lockdown.

"The idea came about from an Executive meeting on COVID -19, we wanted to use this time as an opportunity to build on our capacity development, catch up on administrative tasks and look into providing suspended COVID -19 activities online," said BF Chief Operating Officer Laisiasa Puamau.

"We were very lucky to partner with Outside the Box Marketing Solution to start the Bula Hoops Online Program," he added.

Puamau, a former Fiji national team player shared that the reception to the online initiative has been positive and believes the Bula Hoops program will grow from the initiative.

"We have been getting great responses from the children and their parents. More positive feedbacks and have taken on board some of the areas we can improve on, in particular on content and how the information is disseminated during the live feeds," he said.

"We hope that the interest generated online will translate into increased numbers in the program when Bula Hoops resumes as normal," he added.

Video: Facebook live of Bula Hoops

The future of the Bula Hoops program is a focus of BF and Puamau shared that the Federation is planning on expanding outside of Nadi and Lautoka.

"We are also planning to open the program in other centers around the country. In addition to the Bula Hoops Suva and Bula Hoops in Lautoka, we are looking forward to improving these programs and also expanding the program in Nasinu and Nadi," Puamau said.

Puamau is proud of the online initiative of the Federation and believed they have learned a lot during the process.

"We have learned that many people including children in Fiji spend a lot of time on their phones and that the interest of the sport can grow through online interactions. We will use this experience for plans to continue the development of the program," he said.

The Bula Hoops program under the Basketball For Good Strategy is supported by the Australian Aid and FIBA's Foundation, the International Basketball Foundation.

Check out the Basketball Fjij Facebook page here.

FIBA