CLIFF Owuor, a Kenya-born basketball coach currently managing local side APR, has been in basketball coaching for the last 26 years.

Coaching, he stresses, is about helping players to unlock their own potential and enabling them to perform at the highest level, and that is what he has done for close to three decades now.

"Coaching to me is teaching and offering guidance to my players not just in the game but also in life. We learn to prepare, make decisions that change the game and it applies to life choices as well,” he told Weekend Sport this week.

Early days

Owuor’s coaching journey can be traced back to 1995, then at the age of 22, when a career-threatening knee injury shattered his playing dreams. But, he believed the game was inborn, and he was not ready to let go. That is how he ventured into coaching.

Because of his passion and knowledge about basketball, he wanted make impact and nurture players who would achieve what he was not able to. His early playing retirement was followed by a lot of coaching courses and clinics.

The courses include various college programs in the USA such as; University of Arizona under the late Lute Olson, Texas Tech University under Bobby Knight, Louisville University under Rick Pitino to name a few.

"As I acquired more knowledge and skills, I was also fortunate to have teams to coach and guide to great results,” he recalls.

Career highlights 

Owuor is at APR basketball club for a second stint, and has vowed his mission is to lead the army side back to their glory days.

During his first spell, between 2006 and 2017, the 48-year-old tactician guided the black-and-white team to five domestic league titles, three Fiba Africa Zone V championships and a bronze medal in the African Club Championship.

Between his two stints with APR, Owuor was the head coach of Kenya Morans – the country’s national basketball team, and also coached versity side USIU Africa.

His current contract, which started last year, runs out at the end of the 2022/23 season.

Prior to joining APR in 2006, Owuor had coached and won four college league championships with Kenya Christian Industrial Training Institute (KCITI), and two Kenyan league titles with Ulinzi.

Ultimate goal

Owuor says his ultimate goal is to guide APR to the Basketball Africa League (BAL) title.

Advice to young talents

"My advice to young talents is that everything is possible for a willing heart, and there is no substitute to hard work.”