Growing up in the border town of Rubavu, northwest of Rwanda, Alain Claude Kabera was an avid basketball fan and knew he could be more than a fan.

At 31, Kabera, commonly known on social networks as Kabey, is the head coach of 30-Plus basketball club in the BK Basketball National League. And, in what was the club’s historic first time, he guided them to this year’s playoff games.

Rubavu, which borders DR Congo’s city of Goma, is famous for producing talents that go on to earn national stardom in different sports, and that inspired Kabera to put in work to hone his basketball skills since boyhood – for the home town and passion for the game.

He spoke to Weekend Sport’s Lydia Atieno about his basketball journey.

Kabera, who holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology, started playing basketball aged 13, in the year 2003, largely to his elder brother who, himself, was a big fan of the game.

He dreamed of playing basketball at the highest level, worked hard in training and competed in a lot of youth and junior tournaments in his town.

"My brother had a magazine named ‘5 majeurs’ where I used to see and read a lot about Allen Iverson (a former NBA player). It is him who made me fall in love with basketball, and I worked very hard so I could be like him,” Kabera recalls. 

Unfortunately, he says, his dream would not come true as, years later, he sustained an injury that slowed him down until he decided to call time on his competitive basketball career in 2018.

"I saw my dream slipping through my fingers, but it didn’t stop me from loving the game and doing the best I could. This time, I channeled my passion to coaching.”

He further noted: "I want my players to accomplish what I was not able to.”

Career highlights

Kabera, who, for a brief stint featured for now-defunct side Cercle Sportif de Kigali (CSK), played in the topflight league for about ten years.

Between 2010 and 2015, he played for former champions Kigali Basketball Club (KBC) as a point guard, before moving to 30-Plus where he played until 2018. 

The following year, he managed to climb the ladder and became a team manager for Tigers Basketball Club, where he maintained the same position until last year.

The grandest achievement of his coaching career, he highlighted, is guiding 30-Plus to their first playoff games this year. His side were seen off by champions Patriots in the quarter-finals.

As a player, Kabera was a national champion with Kigali Basketball Club in 2010. 

Meanwhile, when it comes to playing basketball, Kabera says it is his therapy.

"This was, and still is, my rescue. When the youth of my generation vanished in drugs and juvenile delinquency, basketball helped me focus and skip all the troubles.”

As they say, ‘Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you will land among the stars’ and that has always been Kabera’s mantra, and he wants to point the young generations in the same direction.

"I want to help the youngsters dream and realise their dreams.”