ISC 2012 Basketball Coach Training: Post 7

ISC 2012 Basketball Coach Training Final Day: The Closing Ceremony and Finals of Tournament Games

The International Sport Connection began their third training in Uganda on May 3^rd and closed the course on May 12^th.  During the week long residential training, eight American sport scientists and basketball coach experts, Paul Nixon, Nettie Respondex, Maeola Bolten, Marshall Jamieson, Megan Christensen, Dr. Jens Omli, Lisa Berg, and Natalie Trotter, trained 207 coaches (108 men, 99 women) on the courts and classrooms of Lira Integrated School and Sport Center in Northern Uganda.  The final day, May 12^th, included the championship games for the women and men’s divisions of the ISC Basketball Tournament.  Navy beat Blue in the men’s division and Red defeated the Orange team in the women’s division.  Community members and all participants supported the final games where coaches showed off their basketball skills they’d been working on throughout the week.  After the tournament concluded, the final ceremony took place.

The President of the Federation of Ugandan Basketball Association, district representatives, and all children and participants were in attendance for the closing of the course.  Speeches from US Delegates and Ugandan Officials proved that the training was a success and vows to continue the program were taken.  The 208 men and women basketball coaches received their ISC Training Certificate and a flash drive with ISC Coaching Manuals and Video Clips produced by Texas Tech Professor Marc Lochbaum.  In addition, every ISC trained coach received 2 jerseys, one pair of shorts, a whistle, a ball pump, and a basketball.    ISC patches were also distributed to each coach and the participants will be required to pass on their training to at least 8 additional coaches in their communities.  Since the vision of the ISC is to grow communities and educate coaches this idea of coaches training more coaches will help spread the knowledge of modern training techniques to remote villages across Uganda.

The 2012 International Sport Connection Basketball Training in Uganda was supported by generous contributions from the SportsUnited division of the U.S. Department of State.