GABORONE (Botswana) - The Botswana Basketball Association recently hosted a FIBA Level 1 coaching course, coordinated by the highly regarded South African coach Craig Daniels.
Daniels coached South Africa at the 2009 Women's AfroBasket.
Daniels, who is currently conducting another round of the Level 1 course in Botswana, praised the country's federation for allowing coaches from other countries to attend the training.
“The Botswana federation deserves a lot of credit for this course because they applied to FIBA Africa to host a FIBA Level 1 training and what they did is open it up to other coaches in our Zone (Six). Under normal circumstances only 15 coaches are allowed and the host country accommodates 15 of own. What Botswana have done is open it up and we have coaches from Malawi, Namibia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa. So, it was quite cosmopolitan and I thoroughly enjoyed it,” said Daniels.
Daniels was thrilled at the influx of coaches, especially younger coaches who took interest in the course.
“What I think is really positive is the number of young coaches coming through and even more to that and the number of ex national players who are now investing their coaching career and that is positive for any country that has that and those coaches will be much better than we were because of the experience that they have,” said Daniels.
On the practical side Daniels pointed out that the some of the aspects of coaching which need work in Africa.
“In terms of the continent we are improving. Tournaments like the BAL and other competitions give us an opportunity to improve. Based on my experience last week and this week the areas we struggle with is being able to teach aggressive defence and teaching that consistently. Developing solid shooters and it starts with teaching our young coaches how to coach and teach players shooting from a young age,” said Daniels.
The Level 1 coaching course in Gaborone featured several notable attendees, including former international players Neo Mothiba, a former South African national team captain, and David Canivete Jr., who represented Mozambique.
Mothiba, who played in five AfroBaskets and is a head of basketball at St Charles College, a school based in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal Province, says the desire for new knowledge drove him to take up the course.
"I want to upskill myself in terms of the local trends of coaching and how to deal with players. The practical side, the playing, the Xs and Os - I am fairly familiar with. It's the other side, dealing with different types of players. How to teach the little ones - the 12 and 13-year-olds how to play basketball," said Mothiba. "The biggest thing I picked up is learning to coach on the run... Especially with the young ones and the methodology behind it. We work with different kids with different abilities.
"I saw how difficult we make things for ourselves, while there are tried and tested methods to deal with that."
Canivete, who has also represented Mozambique in five AfroBasket tournaments and in two continental club championships in 2019 (FIBA Africa Basketball League) and 2017 (FIBA Africa Champions Cup), says he has received encouragement to become a coach and like Mothiba, he wants to work with young players.
"I would say the feedback I have gotten lately is that, as a player, I have a good view of the game. Working as a commentator since last year has helped my understanding of the game," said Canivete. "I want to pass the testimony of myself being a player to young players."
Canivete also lamented the state of youth basketball in his country. "I am a bit sad about the youth levels, the way they are doing things and how they play. So, I want to be part of changing that," said Canivete.
Amid ongoing administrative challenges at Basketball South Africa, Mothiba remains hopeful that the state of the game will improve, allowing him and others to make a meaningful contribution.
"Just like anywhere, you need to take yourself seriously. That's why guys put their names forward to develop themselves. Hopefully, there will come a point when our federations are functioning more effectively. I appreciate the Botswana federation for allowing us to come to their country and upskill ourselves," said Mothiba. "So, we hope the minister of sports (Gayton McKenzie) can make sure BSA is working."
Daniels welcomed the presence of Mothiba and Canivete at the course and that they wanted to enhance their knowledge in the sphere of coaching. He also pointed that it was beneficial to aspiring coaches the duo attend.
“Botswana was smart about hosting the course because one way of improving their coaching is to expose their coaches to the experiences of coaches from outside their country. You could see that the coaches from Botswana were lapping up the experiences that the likes Neo Mothiba and David Canivete shared. So, for Botswana it’s way of giving their coaches exposure. For Zone Six, economically not everyone can host a FIBA Level 1, so Botswana took it upon themselves to host it and committing to improve the Zones coaches,” concluded Daniels.
FIBA