Seychelles aiming to relaunch youth basketball programmes

MAHE – To give young players opportunities for training and basketball, development programmes have become one of the main priorities to Seychelles Basketball shareholders. 

Another goal, the Islanders say, is to restore their dominance in FIBA Africa Zone 7, which includes Madagascar, Mauritius, Comoros, and Djibouti. 

"We need to accomplish something. And it has to become a legacy, our legacy to basketball in Seychelles," said Adrian Pillay, General Secretary of the Seychelles Basketball Federation (SBF) executive committee. 

"The first step to get to transform the game of basketball in Seychelles is to identify coaches," Pillay noted.

And to attract youngsters to the game of basketball, SBF has a clear plan.

"In the past, we have lost some talented players, either due to their studies or to others sports. We have to find a way to make them stay,” Pillay explained.

The official insists that sending Seychelles U16 and U18 teams to the continental competitions "is the kind of opportunity we want to give the youngsters.”

Seychelles has a population of approximately 100, 000, and it does not match Madagascar or Mauritius when it comes to detecting talents.

"Unfortunately, our pool of players is not as large as these two countries. This makes it rather difficult to identify young players, making it even more complicated to keep them active."

But the committee has a plan to have the maximum youngsters take to basketball.

"We have to give them the opportunity to express themselves. We would like them to showcase their skills," Pillay explained.

To achieve this, the SBF plans to use the momentum gained from last year success at the IBF 3x3 Young Lions Cup – Seychelles ending up runner-up of the tournament – to give a boost to the training and development programmes.

Ultimately, these youngsters will be the ones forming the new elite in Seychelles, getting into the senior national basketball teams.

"We want to get back into the FIBA Africa Zone 7. This is the only way to make this programme as successful as possible. But for this, we need to start somewhere," Pillay concluded.

FIBA