The Sunday Mail
Online Reporter
THE Basketball Union of Zimbabwe (BUZ) has released their Under-18 boys and girls’ squads for the African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region Five Youth Games slated for December 3 to December 12 in Lesotho.
While ecstatic to be back at work, coach Tawanda Nemutambwe has expressed concern over his charges’ competitiveness as he prepares to begin his first of many camps this weekend.
The former Zimbabwe senior men’s assistant coach will be coaching the Under-18 boys’ team, while Clement Kufeketa is in charge of the girls’ team.
“Indeed, it is good to back after such a long time,” said Nemutambwe.
“It has been something like two years and getting the green light to return to work is good.
“It couldn’t have come at a better time,” he said.
He did, however, express misgivings at the level of talent on display when the union had their trials in Kwekwe last month.
The trials saw him and his bench come up with a 16-member squad expected to do duty in Lesotho.
“We had our trials in Kwekwe spread over two weeks and came up with a squad of 16 players.
“Of the 16, 12 will travel with us to Lesotho, while four will be non-traveling reserves . . .
“As a coach, you try to be positive always, but we have our work cut out.
“From what I saw in Kwekwe, the players are not at the level they should be.
“They are playing at maybe Under-16 or 14, and not Under-18 level.
“This is to be expected, given they haven’t played for almost two years and we will have to do our best to sharpen their skills and competitiveness,” he said.
Better known as coach Russy, Nemutambwe is in charge of the boys’ team, which will assemble on Saturday at Heritage School and Falcon College.
Owing to limited resources, and the fact that most of his charges will also be sitting for exams in November, the squad has been divided into two groups.
Players coming from Mutare, Marondera and Harare will assemble at Heritage, while the Gweru and Bulawayo players will converge at Falcon College every weekend until November 18.
The team will subsequently come under one roof for one final camp, which is expected to last until they depart for the games early December.
The main objective of this weekend’s camp will be to work on fitness and fundamentals.
In the weeks to come, and depending on their progress, the technical team will move on to things like IQ, game plans and team chemistry.
Boys Squad:
T. Chimanikire, T. Chitsungwe, A. Mparutsa, M. Hamandishe, S. Chaparika, E. Chiyangwa, T. Muvezwa, N. Mutasa, T. Mupatsi, F. Mubaiwa, D. Bhunu, B. Bayisayi, A. Rabvukwa, M. Sibanda, P. Kampariro, T. Murati
Head Coach – Tawanda Nemutambwe
Assistant Coach – Rodwell Khumalo
Assistant Coach – Johnson Shumba
Team Manager – Tendai Baudi
