GRIFFIN Kalua will steer his club, Bravehearts Basketball Club, during the Road to BAL, having armed himself with new knowledge. This, after he journeyed to Saly, Senegal, for the BAL Pro Camp last month. The trip to the camp (25-27 September) in the West African country both opened Kalua’s eyes to new strategies and left him asking questions.
While he left with a few more tricks up his sleeve, Kalua, speaking to The Big Tip Off early in the month, could not help but note that the camp benefited one part of Africa and excluded the other. From an Xs and Os perspective, Kalua pointed out that some African coaches and players had come catching up to do.
“There is much we can learn about modern concepts from the NBA and other professional leagues, including how they expect their players to do certain things. It was vital for me to attend the camp,” said the Bravehearts owner and coach. “They (The BAL) want to prepare coaches and players… If they get opportunities (to go overseas), they should not feel out of place because some players have gone to America for trials, and there were concepts that coaches there had looked out for, which those players were not familiar with. Or if African coaches go for (job) interviews, and it is found that they do not know the concepts.
“So they want to bridge that gap between professional basketball and where we are in African basketball. We learnt a lot of concepts that are modern and popular in the NBA and Euroleague. So it was vital for players and coaches to be there.”
Kalua, who funded his trip to Senegal, noted that Africa is gradually making progress. However, he emphasised the importance of inclusivity, stressing that the benefits of the program should reach the entire continent.
“The gap is narrowing a little bit. Unfortunately, it’s only narrowing for certain parts of Africa. Not Africa as whole. It’s like there is a bias towards certain parts of Africa. So the gap will be growing among African countries,” said Kalua.
Questioned further why he thought the gaze of organisations like the NBA and the BAL would focus on some countries and not others, he lamented the lack of leadership, particularly in Southern Africa.
“If you look at Zone 6, only Angola and Mozambique are serious about their basketball… The rest of the countries are behind. So it’s understandable why there would be a kind of bias. Why these programs are concentrated in countries like Senegal is that they are serious about basketball,” said Kalua.
With the Southern African leg of the Road to BAL around the corner, he hopes the X’s and O’s concepts he learnt in Senegal will pay off for Bravehearts.
“We have already started to implement some of the concepts. Fortunately, because we travelled a lot and we played different teams, we were already on the right path,” said Kalua. “This (the pro camp) has pushed us closer to where we want to be. So, the implementation was not difficult because we were already aware of some of the concepts.”
With ballers like Harrison Banda, Ian Limbe, Faad Billy, Milton Caifaz and Americans Kirk Smith and Marquis Cunningham being part of the Bravehearts team and lessons learnt from the Bravehearts International Basketball Challenge (BIBC) in late August, Kalua believes the club can qualify for the Elite 16.
“I am confident because we have sorted out the areas of concern. We only have to finalise the clearances of our players. We don’t want a repeat of what happened in Zimbabwe, where we couldn’t field players because of clearances. So we hope to clear everybody as soon as possible,” said Kalua.
While Kalua’s ambition is to qualify Bravehearts for the BAL, he reiterated the message of patience.
“I am not in a hurry. When you look at the level of competition at the BAL or the Elite 16, it’s not easy, it’s hard,” said Kalua. “Our goal is to make the Elite 16. Our experience at the Elite 16 last year helped us make adjustments that we believe are good enough.
“We are not going to buy our way to the BAL. We are going to work and the results will speak. It’s not something that we will be denied for a long time. We will get that opportunity to play at the BAL.”
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