Purposefully Empowering Youth Basketball as a Sport from the Grassroots

The Importance of Youth basketball on the growth, education, and development of Uganda’s young generation

Introduction

At the very core of youth basketball, there is; -

• Learning and developing basic life and athletic skills.
• Building good habits
• Networking and Making Friends.
• Having fun which is the most important one.

Therefore, to empower the sport in Uganda, we need to look at basketball as a cog in a bigger wheel (which is Sports).

So, we look at age brackets, & expectations at every growth level.

At a youth level we are looking at; -

• Guided self-discovery for Kids.
• Nurturing good communication.
• Laying a foundation for valuable intellectual skills.
• Building moral values and empathy.
• Most importantly teaching life copying principles.

Youth basketball should do its part to set a foundation for development pathways within and outside sports.

Playing fosters; -

• Development of peer relationships.
• Boosts self-esteem.
• Build leadership qualities.
• Team work.
• Good ethics through sportsmanship.
• Physical health.
• Enjoyment.
• Life copying, managing expectations & values like — winning & losing.

At an early age (14yrs & below) kids should just enjoy the game, no specialising or serious competition & responsibilities.

Youth basketball is part of a multi-sport approach growth, development & embodying life skills that paves way for children to gain confidence have discipline, build work ethics, make friends while having fun.

Let’s give youth sports back to our children, let’s not impose our expectation, needs & frustrations on them. Let’s just be present as they enjoy sporting

In youth basketball coaching, training and development we need to understand that;-

• Kids are highly active.
• Kids want to feel successful.
• Kids want to have a lot of fun.

We need to ask ourselves questions like; -

Why do children play? -to have fun and make friends.

Why do children quit sports? — borderline emphasis on winning, too much competition, More criticism & less encouragement, approval and appreciation.

What can we learn from it?!

• Children just want to have fun.
• Children just want us to love them and love to watch them play.
• Children want us not to push them too much, learn to let go, to just chill and encourage them.
• Children just want us to be present and there with them in the moment.
• Allow children to go through the processes of sporting. Enjoy, connect, learn, fail, win, unlearn, re-learn, growth & eventually compete.

Keywords:

``Basketball``, ``Youth Basketball``, ``Youth Basketball Coaching``, ``Youth Sports``, ``Sports Education``, ``Player development``, ``training``, ``Sports Trainer``, ``Player Development Coaching``.