What Are We Not Doing Right?

9:29 PM Unknown 7 Comments


Angola's bench looking dejected during their loss against Turkey at the 2012 London Olympics
Contrary to popular speculations, African teams have been present from day one at both the FIBA World Cup and Olympics basketball competitions; both times being represented by Egypt in 1936 and 1950 respectively. Over the decades, several African countries have followed suit and sent teams to participate in international competitions for all age groups and both sexes.

As exciting as it is to see African teams go on such trips, it cannot be denied that performance by teams over the decades is nothing to be excited about. The best performance by an African team at an international event was when Egypt finished 5th in the first ever FIBA World Cup in 1950. The most recent international competition that featured teams from Africa is the just ended FIBA U19 World Championship in Prague, Czech Republic. Senegal and Cote d'Ivoire represented the continent in Prague after dominating the African Championships in 2012 only to finish at the bottom of the table, both often losing games by as much 30 points.

These perennial losing streaks should have us thinking by now. If basketball has been played for as many decades on the continent as it has in other places, why are our teams still losing by this much and performing poorly at these events? Players, coaches, and national federations have to sit up and figure out a future out of this endless cycle of losing. What do you think we are not doing properly?

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