Aug 13, 2013
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Editor's Note: LMU Men's Basketball Associate Head Coach Myke School is spending a week in Africa as lead clinician at the Zuku University Basketball League's coaching clinic. Scholl, who spent more than eight years working in Africa before coming to LMU, will blog throughout his trip.
BUJUMBURA, Burundi, Africa -- It is great to be back on the continent of Africa developing the game of basketball and working with the people. Every time I'm here I am reminded of the tremendous beauty and splendor of this continent. It is a very special place where you feel a magical and spiritual connection to nature.
It's an honor to be the lead clinician at the Zuku University Basketball League's (ZUBL) first coaching clinic. The ZUBL is Kenya's university basketball league and Africa's 1st sponsored and televised university basketball league. The league consists of 34 institutions of higher learning throughout the country and has a total of 58 male and female teams. Kenya has a thriving high school league and a solid premier club league. The ZUBL is the much needed missing piece of the basketball development puzzle here in Kenya.
I spent the weekend in Bujumbura, Burundi at the FIBA Zone 5 regional senior club tournament. The East Africa region is made up of teams which include Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania. The Zuku University Basketball League's 2012 champions (United States International University - USIU) finished 2nd in the tournament and claimed the silver medal in the women's competition. During the weekend, I participated in a very interesting roundtable discussion about the psychology of coaching. I concentrated on the following four key components:
1. Coaching philosophy and the importance of creating a road map for your team
2. Communication. The ability to build team trust and integrity
3. Utilizing the tools of motivation and discipline
4. The development of an organized vision for your team
It was a very powerful experience and I learned as much from the panelist coaches as I hope they learned from me. This region of the African continent is filled with so much passion and so much hope but it saddens me that they are often defined by the decades of genocide carried out by a few completely irrational dictators than by the majority of loving, respectful and peaceful inhabitants that live in this region.
It is clear by the recent influx of NBA players from this region that there is talent in East Africa. I believe if the development of coaching structures continues that the sky is the limit for a league like the ZUBL. Current players from this area include Luol Deng from South Sudan (Chicago Bulls), Hasheem Thabeet from Tanzania (OKC Thunder) as well as Serge Ibaka from Congo Brazzaville (OKC Thunder).
The journey continues as I'm off to Nairobi, Kenya for two days of coaching clinics there.
- GO LIONS -
