Primary level upstarts win high-school league

THE Basketball Artists School, consisting of primary-school children, pulled off a sensational triumph to win the trophy at the Khomas High School League in Windhoek last Saturday.

In the playoffs at Augustineum School, the girls of the Basketball Artists School (BAS) first defeated the very strong Immanuel Shifidi Secondary School 40-31 in the semi-final.
Then in the final, they gave Khomas High School no chance with en emphatic 42-14 victory.
The key to success was the simple strategy “Defence and Fast Break”. BAS Coach Pondo Nailenge said that the BAS girls “deservedly won their games. They work very hard every day on their academics as well as their basketball fundamentals. It also proves that mini-basketball is a very important part of development of Namibian basketball.”
Twelve-year-old BAS captain Lino Nina Simao was crowned Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the high-school league. Together with her teammate Victoria Shilongo she will also be among the five players representing Khomas Region at the U/17 national trials at the end of July.
BAS was founded in 2010 and is a cooperation between the Namibian Basketball Federation (NBF) and the German non-profit organisation ISIBINDI, supported by the German Basketball Federation, the German Olympic Sports Confederation and the German Federal Foreign Office.
Apart from 12 boys, BAS also includes 12 girls aged 11 to 14 years from the primary schools A.I. Steenkamp, Mandume, Namibia, People’s and St. Barnabas in Katutura. The motto is ‘Education First – Basketball Second’. – namibiasport.com.na

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