The Sunday Mail
Tinashe Kusema
THERE is an element of Greek tragedy to the ascension of Kelvin Ben to the top of Zimbabwe basketball.
The gods — in this case the Basketball Union of Zimbabwe — seem to have finally listened to the people and given the senior men’s coaching post to a young, vibrant and fresh mind.
Granted, with just under a month left until his 41st birthday, Ben is anything but young.
However, the Foxes head coach is undoubtedly a fresh face. The tragedy is that the gods, as seldom the case in Greek mythology, hardly ever give the people what they want at the time they want it.
The timing of Ben’s appointment couldn’t be way off, what with the Covid-19 pandemic.
And then there is the case of the 40-year-old’s wish list.
“My demand to the Basketball Union of Zimbabwe, who are my bosses, would be adequate facilities and resources when preparing for any tournament that comes our way,” said Ben.
“I would also like to see a database that can be used to track players from around the globe.
“There are so many players of Zimbabwean birth and nationality plying their trade in different countries and we should be in a position to track them all. All a coach will have to do is log on to the database and find out who is available, who is playing where and who is doing well. We have Vitalis Chikoko playing in France, and it should be easy to see how Julian Mavunga is doing in China and the many other Zimbabweans out there.”
While the request for a database, adequate resources and facilities sounds simple enough, history has taught us otherwise when it comes to Zimbabwe basketball.
Still, one can’t help but root for Ben to succeed, if not for the simple reason that the Foxes’ head coach is your typical underdog. And everybody loves a good underdog story.
Born on July 9, 1980, Ben does not have the most impressive of basketball journeys.
“I grew up in the dusty streets of Marondera; in fact, just a stone’s throw away from the Dombotombo basketball courts.
“Tennis, and not basketball, was actually my first love and I still play the sport socially to this very day.
“The Dombotombo basketball courts were along the way to the tennis courts. I would usually glance over as some of the older guys played. At the time, Michael Jordan, who I was never much of a fan of, was big and with time the MJ magic caught up with me.
“I developed an interest in the sport and by the time I turned 11, I started going to the courts to watch and later play. Soon enough, I fell in love with the sport and have never looked back,” he said.
His playing career isn’t any better.
“I don’t really have a rosy basketball playing career, as I was never much of a great basketball player. I do believe that because I didn’t play much of the sport in high school, I was robbed of some of the fundamental training and growth. Still I did ply my trade with Pioneer Blazers first then moved to Mufakose Hawks and then JBC.”
It was during his time at Mufakose Hawks and later JBC that he developed the coaching bug.
“I moved to Hawks mostly because of proximity as it was closer to home in Marimba, and (I) joined arguably the best basketball team to come out of Mufakose. It is also at Mufakose Hawks where I met the late Ronald Garura, who coached us to the finals of the National League and inspired me to take up coaching,” he said.
The coaching bug would finally come out a couple of assignments later. These include stints as assistant coach at JBC, a managerial post with the Zimbabwe national team and the formation of Foxes and Hornets.
Over the past couple of years, Ben has formed quite the rivalry with Harare City Hornets. It all started with an 80-point defeat to the Harare giants, a result he has since framed and used as inspiration to study the game.
“I remember during our debut season in the HBA we lost to Harare City Hornets by 80 points and that was an eye-opening experience for me. I took the scoresheet, framed it and put it in my house.
“The goal was to use it as a reminder that this (80 points) is the difference between Foxes and Hornets, and my job is to reduce that gap. We played them again that season, this time in the final of the National League, and they beat us by 40 points or something,” he said.
In the time since that heart-breaking defeat, the gap has narrowed and given birth to a rivalry of sorts between the two sides.
Foxes later made three finals’ appearances at the National League and had a taste of regional basketball at the Swaziland Invitational tournament. The annual tournament attracts some of the biggest teams from Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Foxes lost in the last edition held back in 2019, going down to Phoenix of South Africa.
Only Cameo has won the tournament, with JBC and Hornets the other two losing finalists from Zimbabwe. The result has seen Ben’s stock rise and the 40-year-old become one of the most respected coaches in the country.
The news of his appointment a fortnight ago was, however, greeted with both joy and gritted teeth. By his own admission, the biggest fear is likely to be his lack of experience at senior level.
“I really didn’t want to apply for the national team job and was under the belief that I lacked the required experience and needed more time.
“However, friends, fellow coaches and, in particular, my brother-in-law Xavier Bwanya went to great lengths to persuade me to apply.
“He (Bwanya) has been very supportive and played a very crucial role in persuading me to apply, going so far as to arrange a trip for me to the United States for a coaching workshop back in 2019,” he said.
Now that Ben has signed on as senior men’s national team coach, he is optimistic of success.
“I want to make it into a people’s team, rather than a coach’s team, and we have already appointed scouts from around the world to look for Zimbabwean talent that is willing and able to come back and play for us. At the end of the day, I am a student of the game and have been preparing myself for this moment.
“I am heavily influenced by American basketball, not so much the NBA. I watch a lot of American high school and college basketball and religiously follow the WNBA.”
“I am in the process of constructing a Zimbabwe basketball playbook, one I hope to use during my time and hand off to whoever comes after me.
“Steph Curry has changed the way basketball is played and I want my team to be proficient at scoring.
“We will be tight on the defensive end; you can expect low-scoring games.”
