Rwanda basketball team head coach Cheikh Sarr has hailed the FIBA U18 AfroBasket tournaments for the impact they can have on youth basketballers as they transition to the senior level. The Senegalese coach Sarr was part of Rwanda’s contingent that traveled to Pretoria, South Africa, for the just-concluded U18 AfroBasket where the country was represented in both the men’s and women’s categories. The men’s team finished eighth while their sisters wrapped up the continental youth tournament in seventh place. They (FIBA U18 Afrobasket tournaments) are the best platform for coaches to share their knowledge and help others grow. It also brings together the best youth players to learn how to play the game, said Sarr. “I see most of them have represented their national teams at U16s and U18s,” he added. Besides being head coach for Rwanda’s senior team, Sarr is a FIBA instructor who has regularly served as the director of Regional Youth Camps. The most recent took place in Kigali and Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. He says such camps have proven successful given the number of coaches and players it produced for the 2014 U18 Afrobasket. We see more than 30 (players) were there. More than 15 coaches at the camps were at the AfroBasket. It means they (FIBA Youth Camps) are good for Africa, and must be sustained,” he explained. Sarr says the camp's impact also goes beyond the court, as young players from different parts of the continent form friendships. The benefit is plural. First, it's a space to build networks - second, they are socialising. For example, a kid from Tunisia would never have had the opportunity to meet a kid from Zimbabwe or vice-versa, said Sarr. When they get there, they form friendships and build networks for the future. Another thing that makes Sarr beam with pride is the impact of the camps’ work. I am very proud. I saw two Egyptian girls (Malak Elhemaly and Haya AlHalawany) who were part of the camp in Kigali last year, and remembered me. There are other players and it shows that they see us as role models for the work we do. If that was not the case they would not greet us, he said.
