With the lockdown going on all over the country, different people and companies are finding innovative ways to continue working from home. For sportsmen, it is a different story because all sporting activities were suspended and now they’ve had to do training sessions conducted alone at home to maintain fitness. Times Sport tracked down a number of basketballers, who shared videos and stories of how they keep fit during the lockdown. In an interview with Times Sports, Maxime Mwiseneza, the Assistant coach of Rwanda Energy Group basketball team reflected on how COVID-19 has affected the league in general and how they are trying to stay fit during the lockdown. “It is important for us to keep in contact with the players and also have regular dialogue with them to make sure everything is alright, “ he said. Rwandan international Bienvenue Niyonsaba who captains APR Basketball club told Times Sport that he reaches out to fellow players via Facetime to determine what resources they have available during quarantine. Patriots forward Dieudonné Ndizeye spoke about keeping fit amid the lockdown. “Playing basketball is our work, so when we are in quarantine at home, we are doing individual training. We talk to coaches to advise which training sessions to do.” “We are still in the race for the national league and we are supposed to represent our country in Basketball Africa League (BAL) which was postponed because of COVID-19,” he explained. REG forward Elie Kaje said he does training for four hours every day, and he reflected on the importance of training at such a time because he is sure coaches will have to evaluate players’ fitness levels when the league resumes. REG currently lead the league table with 23 points, one ahead of second placed Patriots. APR are third place with 15 points. 12 out of the 14 matches of the first round have been played in the Bank of Kigali National Basketball League.
