MINDELO (Cape Verde) - When asked about his weekly coaching schedule, José Baia's face lights up: "from morning to night!" laughs the man who started the basketball school "La Familia" in 2014, which has about 150 players, playing in several categories, from mini basketball to seniors.

"Basketball is my life. I breathe basketball", summarizes "Zé" Baia, 39 years old, who remembers as if it were yesterday his discovery of this sport. It was in his neighborhood of Ribeira Bote, with his friends, at the age of 14. "Before that, I played soccer, but I wasn't good at it," he says. "We all started with Nilton "Kapton" Lopes, seeing him play. For us, he was like the Michael Jordan of the neighborhood," recalls Zé Baia, who later followed him to the Academica club, coached by "Kula" Monteiro. "I remember that at the beginning, with my friends, we played with our soccer equipment!" he laughs.

Zé Baia naturally turned to training. "Basketball gave my life meaning. It made me feel special in the victories and made me learn in the defeats. With it, I discovered new cultures, new friendships and today I feel happy to try to help other young people achieve their dreams," explains Zé Baia, who launched his school upon his return to São Vicente, after two university and sports experiences while studying in Lisbon and then in Cochabamba, Bolivia, in the mid-2000s. "The idea is to show them that anything is possible, and the importance of having a "focus" mentality in everything you do. Through basketball, I'm fighting to change lives, just like it changed my life."

 "I always dreamed of building a basketball school. When I arrived in Cape Verde in 2014, I realized that there was a wave of negativity floating around our city of Mindelo, especially around our youth. So I saw a great opportunity at that time to create my school and help our youth believe more in their potential," emphasizes Zé Baia, who has been supported since his beginnings by Coach Kula Monteiro, his first coach, the one who "made me fall in love with the sport when he trained me at Academica."

After traveling, I put more value on our reality

 Zé Baia also explains that he was inspired by the example of his counterpart coach Sarda. "After traveling, I gave more value to our reality. I realized that Mindelo is a city with a lot of potential, we have a lot of talent. Before, there was only the school of Kula. When I came back from Bolivia, I wanted to start my own, and seeing the school of Sarda also motivated me."

The coach of "La Familia", whose men's U18 team won the regional championship of the category in July, regularly stresses in training the importance of the school to his players. "Our daily struggle is to remind them of the importance of being serious in school, that school comes first, before basketball," he emphasizes. "I failed in school and if I hadn't failed, I could have been more successful in basketball. I talk to them about that reality. I focused more on basketball than school, and I had to deal with consequences."

"Basketball is a team sport, and it teaches us to live as a team, to help each other," the trainer continues. For Zé Baia, basketball can also "be an option for young people who want to take a new direction in life. It can also help young people who lack family support, young people with social problems, or others who are looking to basketball as a refuge from discrimination."

Zé Baia's sources of inspiration are numerous among Cape Verdean basketball figures such as Kula Monteiro or Emanuel Trovoada, the national coach who "admirably fought" to allow Cape Verde to grow in African basketball, and many other memorable Cape Verdian players. "All these people are an example, even for the youngest ones, that with a lot of work, everything is possible. I also try to share my experience with young people. I had good moments, but I also had failures which I share with them so they don't repeat them."

Zé Baia is also inspired by the work of the Aminga team, whose sports camp just completed its 2nd edition on the island, in the presence of João Gomes,  current Benfica Lisbonne player and its co-founder. It is an additional form of motivation for the players and for him. "It's something we didn't have, a quality campus, and every year Aminga gives more opportunities for athletes to leave, to continue their studies and see their dreams come true," adds Zé Baia, whose three protégés are currently attending the MVP Academy, in Rio Miaor, Portugal.

The coach has hopes for basketball in São Vicente, such as the creation of an association of local coaches, or more technical training for coaches and players. "We are a big family, and we have to support our youth," he says. Very active on social networks to promote Cape Verdean basketball, Zé Baia always embellishes his posts with a federative"SV Basket Ta Vivo" (São Vicente basketball is alive), or "SV basket on fire".

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