In June, the Under-18 national basketball team qualified for the African Championships after putting up a dominant display in the Zone V qualifier tournament.

The team convincingly won all the four games they played against Uganda and Tanzania, and were crowned Zone V champions, a development that meant that they will be representing the region at the upcoming African Championships that will take place in Antananarivo, Madagascar from August 4-14.

Last week, before the team jetted out to the island nation for the showpiece, Sano Rutatika, the Captain sat down with Times Sports and talked to us about a number of things, including what the team’s qualification means for him and his colleagues, and their targets at the tournament.

Read the excerpts below:

To start, tell us about yourself.

My name is Rutatika Sano. I’m 18-years-old and I play for the Under-18 national team.

I recently graduated from high school in Chicago, played basketball there, and I will be attending the University of West Florida to play basketball there.

You were part of the NBA Academy, tell us about that.

I used to be part of the NBA academy. I graduated there one year ago, so I spent three years there – a once in a lifetime experience.

How were you selected to take part in the academy?

So I had a very great opportunity to attend Green Hills Academy. That was a high school I used to attend in grade 9 and grade 10.

I had a chance to play in the first ever junior NBA game that was launched by Mr. Amadou Gallo Fall, the Vice President of NBA Africa and President of the BAL. So I had the opportunity to showcase my talent there at the stadium.

He told me I should keep working, and eventually I found myself at the NBA Academy camp that I was invited to in Senegal, and then I was chosen to be part of it - I was integrated to be part of the NBA academy.

Besides the U-18, which junior national teams have you played for so far?

This is not my first time representing Rwanda in a basketball competition. I played for the Under-16 national team in 2019. We finished fifth there. And my goal now that I come back to the national team is to get better and possibly win the Afrobasket and qualify us for the World Cup.

Recently, the U-18 national team won the Zone V regional trophy. Tell us about that.

Yes, we did. We won the regional trophy in Uganda. We played four games, both against Uganda and Tanzania. We went undefeated, thanks to the coaches and teamwork of the players.

I obviously couldn’t have got that MVP (Most Valuable Player) trophy without my teammates. It’s all a collective thing, and I gave them a lot of credit for helping me reach my highest eventually winning the trophy in Uganda.

You were the captain of the team as it won the Zone V trophy. What kind of responsibilities are on your shoulders?

Being a captain is not only being the leader on the court. It’s also about being the leader off the court. You know, everything that you do off the court translates to on-the-court and especially building that chemistry between teammates, making sure they understand all the plays, making sure we’re all together and doing everything together.

It’s really not that hard because we have a great group of guys here. I can attest to that personally. And I would say I’ve really had a lot of fun. I can’t wait to go out there on the court with them.

You qualified for the continental tournament. What does this mean to you as a team?

It means a lot to us to be qualified once again, but although we won everything in Uganda, it doesn’t mean anything because the competition we will face in Madagascar won’t be the same competition we faced in Uganda. So everything we’re doing now is even greater.

We’re preparing ourselves, we’re being more disciplined. We want to be more disciplined both on and off the court so that everything we do, we do it to represent not only ourselves but our families and most importantly as you know, our country.

You talk about your team as a great group. How good are they?

I would say they’re really great. I was impressed by the way we picked each other up during these practices, got used to each other, got our chemistry better in order for us to play these friendly games and actually win.

You know, (there is) a lot of mistakes that we make but this is the point of these friendly games, this is the point of camps, this is the point of practice because we want to get better.

And I know we’re going to get better because I believe in us and we’re all talented. I mean we got immense size, we got shifty guards. I really believe we really have all that we need to win that championship in my Madagascar.

You are going to be rubbing shoulders with top teams on the continent. Are there some teams that you are wary of? And how prepared are you for them?

Not so much worried, but just looking forward to playing against them, because I remember at the Under-16 Afrobasket championship we played against Egypt, Guinea - very talented teams just like us, maybe more disciplined, but we’ve learned a lot.

We don’t forget what happened. And that’s why we look forward to playing those teams. Because now we have more discipline.

We are looking forward to seeing how they’re going to face a new team as in Rwanda, and we’re looking forward to how we are going to respond to their challenge because they’re as talented as we are, it’s just about who wants it more.

What are your targets going into this tournament?

Oh, we want to win the Afrobasket Championship to qualify us for the World Cup. That’s our goal. We have really high expectations for ourselves and we’re going to set our standard to that because we believe we can do it.

As a young player, how does the senior national team inspire you?

Well, I look up to a lot of people, especially (Aristide) Mugabe. You know, he’s been the captain for the senior national team for a long time now.

And I’m looking forward to leading into his steps, following his steps, following his journey, because that’s something I would want to do.

I want to join the national senior national team pretty soon, because there are a lot of players that I look up – Kenny Gasana, Kendall Gray - there are a lot of players that are out there on that senior national team that I believe I can play with and actually compete with, and eventually, lead the team on my back just like Mugabe did.

Some people already think that at the level you are playing, you can offer something to the senior national team. Do you think you are ready?

It’s very humbling to hear that because I believe in my work and I trust in my work and I also believe that I’m able to do that. I just have to keep working and proving to them that I actually can contribute something to the senior national team, and I believe I can.

Age is just a number, it’s just about working hard, the efficiency, the discipline that you have and what you can contribute to the team.