Coaches learn fundamentals and tactics
LOCAL basketball coaches and those who aspire to become coaches are following a week-long Fiba Africa level one coaching clinic being run by Kenyan instructor Ronny Owino.
The clinic, which started on Monday, is taking place at the Seychelles Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association (Socga) headquarters at Stad Linite.
A former national team player as a point guard from 1982-1993 and head coach for 10 years, Owino, who now handles Posta in the Kenyan premier league, said he wants to do two things with local coaches – emphasise fundamentals and talk about playing strategies (tactics).
“Nowadays coaches do not stress fundamentals. Team tactics are also important. Most coaches come to clinics and want to learn playing systems. I have two booklets of more than 200 plays, but I’m not going to give them to the coaches,” said Owino, who has been a Fiba instructor since 2004.
“What the coaches need is to understand the concepts of how to use plays. Once they have understood those concepts, then they can take the plays to improve their team’s offence.
“It is important for coaches to understand why they use man-to-man defence and not zone defence in a match. When do you play a certain kind of defence? Do you stick to the same type of defence after the other team had called for a time-out?
“Tactics are important. In a match you can play 10 different types of defence because if you play just one type, the opposition will know how to counter,” noted Owino, who first came to Seychelles with the Kenyan national team in 2000.
Owino added that he needs to know the structure of Seychelles basketball to be able to make informed decisions on how to go about improving things.
“I can’t just come and tell you to do this or that. But local coaches have to do the first and second modules of the Fiba level one coaching course to earn a diploma. If they have been coaching for a while, they can’t fail their modules. With a module two diploma, they can sit on the bench without any problem,” he added.
Opening the course, which ends on Sunday December 6, Seychelles Basketball Federation chairman Roy Collie said it had been long overdue and thanked Socga for making it possible.
“You coaches must gather as much information and skills as possible and then pass on the fundamentals to the youths,” he said.
In the presence of Robert Auguste, the National Sports Council’s director of the Federations Management and Development Division, Socga secretary general Alain Alcindor asked the coaches to make the most of the opportunity and to continue their learning process to become qualified Fiba coaches.
“Learning is a never-ending process, and education is the only avenue to success. Clear your doubts by asking questions,” he said, before telling the basketball family to develop good working relations with its counterpart from Kenya.
G. G.