Zimbabwe’s future growing up in Germany

REGENSBURG (David Hein's Eye on the Future) - Vitalis Chikoko has big goals - developing into a star at his current club and eventually earning a spot in the NBA. Along the way he also would love to help advance his national team from its current depths.

One cannot say the 20-year-old Zimbabwean is not thinking big. And the lanky 2.06m forward has valid reason for his optimism.

“Vitalis is a huge talent,” said Jan Schiecke, sports director of Chikoko’s current club BG Göttingen in Germany.
 
“We are happy that he will be taking the next step in his development in Göttingen. He is enormously athletic and versatile and has a good feel for the game. Now it’s our job to support him and get the most out of his potential. Vitalis’s biggest strength is definitely his will to get better.”

Chikoko has been at Göttingen since September when he signed a four-year contract after being on the books of the Zimbabwean team Dzivarasekwa Raiders last season. He is one of only a few Zimbabweans playing hoops away from Africa. Others include Boris Fodouop, a freshman at Mass Bay Community College in Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts, and Sebastian Chitagu, who starred at British club Sheffield Arrows in the second division EBL before having to sit out this entire season with a knee injury.

Chikoko has spent this season playing predominantly with Göttingen’s farm team, ASC 46 Göttingen, in the fourth division, where he has dominated the competition, averaging 14.2 points over five games. He has also played in Göttingen’s last two BBL games, scoring five points and grabbing two rebounds in nine total minutes of action.
 
He started playing basketball when he was 11-years-old because he was too tall to play football. His first real exposure to international basketball came at age 17 when he captained Zimbabwe’s team at the 2008 FIBA U18 Africa Championship. Then in January 2011, Chikoko made his debut for the Zimbabwe senior national team, helping the country to a 2-2 record at the 2011 FIBA Africa Championship Qualifying Round with wins over Zambia and Malawi. Zimbabwe lost to South Africa and Mozambique.

“I was not afraid. I knew most of the guys from South Africa and Mozambique so I was confident,” Chikoko said.

A big moment came in October 2009 when he was lined up in a game against Angolan veteran big man Joaquim Gomes, a winner of multiple African championship titles who has also played at two Olympic Games and three FIBA World Championships.

“At first I was afraid of the name Gomes and of him,” Chikoko recalled. “But I blocked his first shot and then scored on a drive on him at the other end. I was like 'I can play against this guy'. He was giving me some respect so that was cool. I thought, I just have to play my game.”

Even though he is playing mainly power forward and center with the fourth division Göttingen side, Chikoko hopes to play more of the small forward position – just like his idol Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

“I watched NBA all the time and liked Tim Duncan. But now it’s Kevin Durant. I liked the way Duncan played the game. But now I would also like to play the three position as well like Durant,” he said.

Besides practicing every day, the youngster from the Zimbabwean capital Harare is also making sure to eat lots of German food. He is namely trying to add some weight to his slim frame – from his estimated current 90 kilos to his desired weight of 105-110.

Göttingen have told Chikoko to improve his game this year and push the players on the first team in practice and then he could play more at the senior team next season.

Chikoko, who in 2009 met Miami Heat star Chris Bosh, said he hopes to be in the NBA in “maybe two or three years. That’s my dream.”

Until then he has a lot of work to do – also in helping the Zimbabwean national team advance further in African competitions.

Since Zimbabwean basketball lacks the money and support, one way Chikoko can help basketball in his homeland is by performing well abroad.

“If I play well, maybe more clubs would look to players in Zimbabwe. There are a lot of really good players in Zimbabwe,” he said.

If Chikoko can make the step from talent in Zimbabwe to star in the Bundesliga, clubs will be heading to the southern African country looking for more prospects.

Until then, it’s Chikoko’s job to convince them to go there.

David Hein

FIBA