Falcons player Mbaziira Henrison wants to continue sharing and passing on his basketball knowledge and skill. This, he has done, through putting in place the Henrison Basketball Academy (HBA).
The Academy serves children from the age of 5 to as high as 20 years of age.
“We assume that this is the most important age of learning fundamentals of the sport,” Mbazira who also doubles as the Academy’s coach, told The-SportsNation.
Mbazira has a team of about 10 other coaches who help run the programs, and the academy held a training camp over the weekend at the Kabira County Club.
“Our focus is on building players with the fundamentals of basketball and the ones for life because most of the things that are done on the basketball court can actually be done in real life, you can apply them in real life like discipline, respect, time keeping – These are things that we do,” Mbazira further explains.
Parents are asked to pay around Sh30,000 to have their children (10 years and below) registered in the Academy. Sh25000 is charged on children who are above the age of 10.
Mbazira says that they use the money to cater for the day to day running of the academy.
He added: “We usually have fees that they pay just like you understand that this is a recreation center we have things we manage like the court itself because it has to be accessed by a lot of people so we hire it.”
“But as well, we are paying that amount of money in consideration with the membership because some of the kids have membership with Kabira Country club so those are the ones eligible for the 30,000 and 25,000 in respect with the age.
“Then if they pay membership for the Kabira County club, they are just paying only that if they don’t have membership then they pay an extra Sh10,000 for the entrance so we charge them for the session then they pay entrance.”
Mbazira is following into the footsteps of Ben Komakech and Jimmy Enabu who initiated the IHoops Academy.
“I play with them (Koma and Jimmy) in the National Basketball League, I have been with them in National Team camps. I should say it’s quite inspirational and even if other players can do the same, this is what we need and it’s what the next generation needs just like the motion stands HBA the next generation of Basketball – we are looking at the next generation coaches, doctors it’s really important for players to come up and start academies this is something that can manage your time off court and giving back to the little ones.”
Mbazira says that a player may not be remembered for scoring 34 points in the game but the kids will remember him/her for helping them acquire certain skills that have helped get a scholarship or take them anywhere in the world.
Among the challenges faced, Mbazira says that Covid19 pandemic has forced many parents not to send out their children to play.
He added: “We have issues like the court itself since it’s an expensive place. But we want to help the entire society, people can afford and some can’t so that’s a big challenge. Then also the weather some times un predicted, you may plan you have a session on a Saturday morning then you wake up when it’s raining. That slows down our progress.”
Saturday’s tournament saw many accolades given out to best performers in various categories.
Mbazira called upon anyone willing to come on board so that “we can build a team for the next generation.”
He added: “We have a lot of parents that come up to give us water, some of them are sponsors, some of them are players but there are a lot of people also who have paid for registration.”
