Samoan National Basketball Development Officer visits New Zealand
WELLINGTON – Earlier this month, Samoa’s National Basketball Development Officer (NBDO), Linda Kelsall visited Basketball New Zealand (BBNZ) headquarters in Wellington to take part in a week-long training program.
Linda was employed by the Samoan National Basketball Association (SNBA) in September on 2016. At just 19-years of age, Linda is very much in touch with Samoa’s youth population which will greatly benefit her efforts to promote basketball in country.
Having recently participated in the FIBA Pacific Youth Leaders camp and FIBA U18 Oceania Championships as an athlete, Linda has first-hand experience of the level of basketball produced across the region.
The next step was for her to develop her administration and organisational capacity. BBNZ, FIBA and the SNBA partnered to send Linda to Wellington from the 28th of March to the 2nd of April, 2017.
During her time with BBNZ, Linda was exposed to the systems and processes that New Zealand enlists to manage and develop basketball activity in their country. Topics ranged from youth development programs (Kiwi Hoops) to elite level depth charts and high-performance training.
Linda expressed her gratitude for this opportunity.
“This trip has been very helpful; I have learned so much about planning. An NBDO needs planning to develop basketball.”
“Everything they presented was so clear. They showed me how to do things and respected me even though I was much younger than them.”
Linda hopes to use what she has learned to improve basketball in Samoa.
“We don’t have enough referees or coaches in Samoa,” she said. “I hope to take what I have learned to develop more volunteers for basketball. I will use the handbooks and my experience to create more and better coaches and referees in Samoa.”
FIBA Development Manager – Oceania, Annie La Fleur spoke to Linda’s potential as Samoa’s NBDO.
“Linda is a fantastic role model for young women not only in her country, but right across the Pacific,” said La Fleur.
“This training experience was designed to give Linda hands-on experience working with one of our leading National Federations and their local Associations to enable Linda to develop her administrative skills.”
“We are very thankful to BBNZ for working with us to create this opportunity and we look forward to seeing Linda implement some of the things she has learnt into her day to day work.”
FIBA
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About FIBA’s NBDO program:
FIBA Oceania’s NBDO program is active in 7 countries across the region. NBDO’s are employed by their National Basketball Federation with the assistance of FIBA. Their duty is to promote and increase the participation numbers of basketball in their respective countries.
