“We’re on the right track” - Basketball in Namibia

German sports expert Frank Albin launched the first basketball short-term project in Namibia in cooperation with the German Olympic Sports Confederation and the German Foreign Office. Frank Albin provides the coaches with his expertise and knwo-how and trains them to create sustainblae structures for the future.
Enlarge image Frank Albin with young basketball players (© Frank Albin) In 2008, in cooperation with the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB), German sports expert Frank Albin travelled to the first basketball short-term project in Namibia to gain an impression of how basketball is faring in that country.

Mr Albin is an ex‑basketball coach who holds a diploma in education and was formerly the education desk officer for the “Badische Sportjugend”, the youth organization of the Baden Sports Federation (BSB). He discovered that basketball has great potential in Namibia.

Within the scope of the German Foreign Office’s International Sports Promotion, he held further-training courses for coaches in Namibia, worked together with various schools there, and organized sports-equipment donations from Germany. 

Given the great success of that short-term project and the still rudimentary basketball structures in Namibia, Mr Albin began cooperating with the Namibian Basketball Federation in October 2009 on behalf of the German Foreign Office. The aim of this long-term, two‑year project is to support the Federation, particularly in the fields of education, PR and the build‑up of structures. Mr Albin is helping the Namibians to help themselves by training coaches, winning people there for the sport together with the association, and involving enthusiastic local basketball players more closely in the Federation’s work.

Basketball offers young Namibians an alternative to their everyday routine and the prospect of escaping poverty and violence through training together, getting over defeats and experiencing sporting fairness, thus also strengthening their self-confidence and their courage to face life.
Enlarge image Girls playing basketball (© Frank Albin) The first training camps with young people and coaches have already been held. According to Mr Albin, “the advantage of these camps is that great progress can be made in a short time. The coaches were highly motivated, and now they have the necessary know‑how and equipment (...) The local partners’ plans sound good.” In the long term sustainable structures are to be created, especially in the youth basketball sector, and Namibian basketball is to be set on its own feet. For this to happen it is important that the country has adequately-equipped training sites, appropriate equipment and regular training sessions.

In spite of the many negative factors such as extreme heat and desert sand, Mr Albin is enthusiastically working to implement the project, and he is optimistic about the future: “2010 will be a decisive year for basketball. I’m firmly convinced that it will be successful, as we’re on the right track.”