Madagascar gearing up for 2024 FIBA Africa Mini Basketball Forum
The three-day event will gather 400 children at Kianja Barea in Mahamasina, in the Malagasy capital. Besides the youngsters, 70 coaches from 15 African countries were registered to attend the showpiece.
ANTANANARIVO (Madagascar) - Following the success of the 2023 edition, which focused on promoting basketball among the youngest players, the FIBA Africa Mini Basketball Forum makes a stop in Madagascar for the 2024 edition.
The event is scheduled to take place from July 15-18 in Antananarivo, Madagascar.
The three-day event will gather 400 children at Kianja Barea in Mahamasina, in the Malagasy capital. Besides the youngsters, 70 coaches from 15 African countries were registered to attend the showpiece.
Joining local coaches, others coming from as far as the Comoros, Côte d'Ivoire, Morocco, Benin, Senegal, Egypt, Ghana and Tunisia.
The event will be held under the aegis of FIBA Africa and FIBA Foundation, who have joined forces for the occasion.
The training sessions will be run by Moroccan Nour Amir and Guillermo Calvo from Spain, two FIBA instructors who will be sharing their expertise with the participants.
They will be running theoretical and practical sessions for coaches, who will have to pass on this knowledge to the children.
Hours before the start of the 2024 FIBA Africa Mini Basketball Forum, the excitement was palpable, said Onja Soloharinivo, head of Mini Basketball at the Malagasy Basketball Federation.
The whole point is to help the sport grow, she says.
To back up her claims, she points to the success of the Mini Basketball sessions hosted by the MBBF on a regular weekly basis for some time now as evidence.
"Mini Basketball programme is a success. There's no doubt that this forum will generate even more interest in the game in Madagascar, enabling an even larger number of young children to get off to a flying start," she notes.
She even adds that the number of young children taking up Mini Basketball has risen significantly over the course of time.
"Our participation in various African forums has had a positive effect in Madagascar. Since we started holding Mini Basket activities, we have seen a steady increase in the number of U12 players, as well as in the number of basketball schools in Madagascar. We have also noticed that many Mini Basketball schools have changed the way they run training sessions for their children," added Mrs. Soloharinivo.
FIBA