Basketball at grassroots

Sport is a global phenomenon connecting fans across the globe. Grassroots sports development is key to the continuation of sport as a whole and it is the coaches who labour to expose this hidden talent.One such coach is 30-year-old Ramah Mumba who eats and sleeps basketball. He started throwing hoops at the tender age of seven, an age when most youngsters do not know what to do with their precious time. But Mumba was busy practicing, and learning all there is to know about basketball. Each day, with a basketball in one hand and his school books in the other, he would trek to school. His peers would always try and snatch the ball from his hands. Sport Wrap caught up with the inspiring coach to find out who he is, what makes a good coach, what his vision is and more about the importance of youth involvement in sport.Mumba is Namibian but was born in Tanzania and spent most of his youthful years in Zambia. He eventually came to Namibia in 1998 where he enrolled at Windhoek International High School for secondary education. After completing his secondary education he enrolled at Unam and obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology and Physics. Despite having completed his tertiary education, he realised that what he had studied was not what he wanted to do in life and he embarked on his journey to pursue a career in coaching basketball. Mumba is the current executive director of the Basketball Artists School Foundation and the Namibian Basketball Federation secretary-general.The foundation was established in 2010 with the aim of equipping young basketball players with the fundamentals of basketball as a sport, as well as life skills. His job as the head of the organisation is to ensure that all departments are operating efficiently and that the BAS is and remains sustainable, as well as to ensure that individual players' skills are honed. But, with everything great, there is a beginning. For Mumba, the love for the game grew in his teenage years. At the age of 16 he was presented with an opportunity to coach the under-12 team at his high school. “I grabbed the opportunity even though I didn't know what I was doing and I just ran with it. Since then, I have not stopped coaching. I volunteered at basketball programmes and coached young players who were mostly beginners.“But that's not all I did. I focused on my schoolwork. I don't believe that an athlete's performance on the court, field, or in the pool makes them special, but their dedication, hard work and sacrifice towards their education makes them who they are. Because of those beliefs, we incorporate education with basketball at BAS,” he says.Mumba also says there are many qualities that a coach must have. Mumba believes a good coach must be reliable, committed, responsible, supported by team work, hard work and excellence. “I believe these values can make a coach a good role model to the young players and whoever looks up to him.”In addition, he says that no matter what he does, he sticks to his philosophy which is skills development in basketball and in life. “I try all the time to combine the two aspects because sport can be used as a tool to develop life skills in young people. I would rather have a team that wins some games and is made up of well-behaved young people with good values and who have a bright future, than having a team with arrogant players who are bad role models in the community.” What follows are his responses to questions from Sport Wrap.How do you motivate your players?“I usually give them real-life stories and experiences that I know I've been through or someone I know has. After that I show them something that will make my point clear and help them to do what they must do. I'm more of a practical person than theoretical in my approach.”How do you teach your players to balance their game and academics?“Well, I give them my life experience when I was their age to show them that I managed to do sports and studies at the same time. I also give them examples of other people I know. I tell them that it's all about priorities and time management. Many young people fail to manage their time and focus on the wrong things. If sport and basketball and family are their top priority, there is enough time to manage those activities. If friends, parties, drinking and other unproductive activities are added to your life, you won't find time for studies and sports.”What is your coaching philosophy? “I believe that a team that plays the best defence has a higher chance of winning than a team focused only on offense, so my philosophy is to teach players how to play good defence than fast breaks. This is what young players need.”How are the parents reacting to their children's involvement in basketball?“Well, basketball is still developing so more and more parents are starting to hear about it. Many are supportive if the child starts at a young age and grows in the programme.”Many Namibians do not value basketball, how do you plan to change that mind-set? “I say it starts from the top, the right leadership is needed and at the moment I will say that we are slowly getting there because we have found the right people to develop basketball. We need programmes at grassroots level, as well as coaching clinics all year round. But, of course the most important aspect to have all these is manpower and resources. It's really difficult to develop without these aspects.”The coaches at BAS from Monday to Friday spend each afternoon at the centre in Katutura mentoring young players from Windhoek. The resources which they use are local donations and support from Germany. Currently, BAS has four full-time staff members, six part time trainers and three volunteers. The volunteers come from Germany and are attached to the programme for a year. The foundation has no centre outside Windhoek, but there are plans to expand basketball development to other regions which require training to develop the sport. The popularity of the sport is now attracting around 100 players each week. Limba Mupetami

Basketball at grassroots

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-07

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Basketball at grassroots

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-07

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