Coaching Basketball

I didn’t set out to be a basketball coach.  It something that just kind of happened.  It started with a group of high school boys always playing basketball at lunch time on the, let’s say, subpar court that KICS had at the time.  The stone courtyard isn’t level, and the ball would randomly bounce off to stones protruding at odd angles.  The goal leans forward, and there’s a gaping hole where the square is supposed to be.  Nevertheless, the boys were there every day, even in the rain, playing 21.  I decided it looked like fun, so I would bring a change of clothes and go out there with them.

Then, the coach of the girls basketball team suggested I should coach the high school boys, since there wasn’t really a program in place for that.  The two problems with that suggestion were 1) I was really busy towards the beginning of the year with my IT responsibilities and 2) we didn’t have a decent practice facility.  So it was decided to wait until the spring when I would be less swamped and we would have a new basketball court built.

The court wasn’t finished as quickly as we had hoped, but it was really impressive when it was finished.  The goals are some of the best in Kigali, and there are future plans to add a roof to the court to help with the sun and rain.

We had an opening ceremony for the court, complete with the inaugural dunk.  The kids have really enjoyed playing on it.  Because it took so long to complete, we were only able to schedule one game, which our boys won 81-30.  We hope to continue the program in the fall and develop their skills even more.