MOMBASA, Kenya, Dec 12 – With Kenya’s junior basketball development on the right trajectory, coach and referee Justus Akwesa, fondly known as Jazz, has challenged the Kenya Academy of Sports (KAS) to escalate the holiday sports camps to three times annually.
Jazz, who is one of the coaches training young aspiring basketball players at the Mombasa KAS camp, said taking advantage of the April, August and December school holidays will enhance production of many and better future stars since coaches and players will have ample time.
“My humble request to KAS is that when the students close school in April, August and December we should have these camps because they are the only channels where the national under 19 teams can train together for synergy,” Jazz outlined.
Jazz called on the Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) to maximize the presence of the camps and use it as a feeder system to the national teams.
“My suggestion to KBF is to use coaches who come from different counties to tap talent there and forward the best to the national office. We saw the 3X3 team that was selected… If the selectors had gone to the counties, I am sure they would have come out with the best,” Jazz said.
The coach is impressed with the talent displayed in Mombasa where the boys are being trained skills in every department.
“The boys are wonderful, they have skills, we have each and every department here, they are doing fine and they are energetic. The players were selected on merit during the county games hosted in Mombasa,” Jazz stated.
He added, “The camp will help us select the best from the coast region and have opportunity to represent the country in the national under 18 assignments.”
With NBA Kenya focusing on development of junior players, Jazz is upbeat KAS will be used as a hub.
“It’s a privilege to have NBA in Kenya, my humble request would be if they want players, they could get in touch with KAS and they will be given a pool of players to select from.”
