FIBA Africa delegates eager to further the Mini Basketball movement

IFRANE - The third FIBA Mini Basketball Convention of the year took place in Ifrane, Morocco this week-end. Over 400 children from 5 to 12 years of age and 100 delegates took part in the event, including 19 International delegates.

Conforming to the IBF's goal of promoting gender equality, 11 of the 19 international delegates were female.

The two-day event started with coaching clinics during which delegates were shown best practices on fun ways to teach children basketball. This was followed by discussions on the main problems Africa faces in regard to Mini Basketball.

Subsequently, a golf activity was proposed to the delegates and FIBA Africa President and FIBA Vice-President Hamane Niang as a team-building exercise to strengthen the ties between the various representatives of 16 different African nations.

Sunday was dedicated to presentations and discussions centered on finding solutions to the difficulties mentioned on the previous day. At the request of the delegates, a further discussion was held on the Sunday evening.

Mohammed Lo, a delegate from Mauritania, was inspired by the learning of the convention "the week-end was very insightful. It helped me a lot as it will allow me to further develop Mini Basketball in my country by putting in place a strategy and by creating a unified training program with the other coaches. I will push the federation to regulate the movement and organize Mini Basketball specific events".

Hamane Niang was also very satisfied with the event. “We experienced a beautiful event. I would like to commend the IBF who is materializing the FIBA vision of boosting the Mini Basketball movement which is a fundamental part of the basketball development. We are not only building future players, we are building future fans and the basketball family”.

Mr. Niang also saluted the Royal Moroccan Basketball Federation who hosted the event "I think the choice of having the convention in Ifrane was completely justified in view of the mini basketball events held here in the past. The location was ideal with top-scale facilities at the Michlifen Hotel".

Nour Amri, technical Director of the Royal Moroccan Basketball Federation exclaimed "this convention made African delegates aware of the importance of Mini-Basketball for the future of basketball in our continent. Thanks to the experts we realized that many things remain to be done but the will to progress is present".  

 "Morocco has invested heavily in Mini Basketball over the last five years", he continued "We are now among the best African countries in this field. It is our responsibility to share our experience and know-how with other African  countries, so that the minibasket develops in Africa and in time contributes to the development of basketball. We hope that this excellent IBF initiative can be continued regularly in the future on our continent"

FIBA Africa National Federations President and IBF Board member Jean-Michel Ramoroson insisted on the fact that the convention is not an isolated event. "FIBA Africa and the IBF will collaborate to follow-up with the International delegates to make sure the convention is sustainable. We will provide training as well as logistical and material help when needed to further develop and give a new momentum to the Mini Basketball movement in the various National Federations".

Mr. Niang has also suggested the launch of a Mini-Basketball day to globalize the movement and motivate and align all National Federations around Mini Basketball "we will start off slowly but those who will arrive after us will further our efforts of building Mini Basketball".

FIBA global partner Molten supplied balls for each participant.

The next FIBA Mini-Basketball convention will take place in Sri Lanka from 13 to 15 December.