By S. Siapha Mulbah
The Chief Executive Officer of the Liberia Basketball Network, Coach Claudius Thompson, is calling for the decentralization of basketball activities across Liberia.
Coach Claudius said the limited number of playing facilities in the country for basketball is a great challenge to the sport which he believes should be played at community levels before pushing upward for international involvement.
The 17 year-old-experienced basketball coach added that with over ninety percent of the basketball centers in Liberia being open facilities, the rainy season is the current problem faced when practicing or during other trainings.
According to him, only Montserrado County seems to have very few basketball programs that are attractive to many young people but because of their distance away; they tried to let the gift in them being wasted by siting and doing nothing about it.
“Basketball is a sport that can be considered as a community sport. It has to be played in the various communities, at schools and other venue near those that want to play, but in Liberia the case is not so,” he noted.
Coach Claudius who heads the Vision Basketball Program called on the Liberia Basketball Association to intensify its partnership and lobbying efforts to have the National basketball programs expanded to other counties so that the other young basketball shooters can be spouted and properly developed for good sportsmanship.
“At the start of the tournament that is currently in its final stage, the Liberia Basketball Association had teams from as far as Bong and Margibi Counties that came way to Monrovia to take part in the league. This means that there are so many others out in Nimba, Maryland, Sinoe and all other counties that want to be involved in the sport but because of the distance they cannot,” he added.
According to the veteran Liberian basketball coach who spent more of his career in Ghana and Nigeria, the Vision Basketball program has four active male teams that recruits, trains and mentors young men desirous of becoming ballers with two active female teams that are in the national basketball competition.
He urged others to joined efforts to launch community based activities in their various counties that could be used to manage little groups that could subsequently called attention that will keep the dream alive and make basketball continue bouncing in Liberia.
