27/01/2015
FIBA Family
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A big boost for emerging federations in Oceania

NADI (FIBA Basketball World Cup/3x3) - The movers and shakers in some of FIBA Oceania's smaller but still very important national basketball federations have been putting their heads together to plan for a brighter future.

Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji sent board members and hoops development officers to Nadi, Fiji, for a Management in Sporting Organization (MiSO) course organized by FIBA Oceania in partnership with the Oceania Sports Education Program (OSEP).

Remembering that FIBA's stated objective is to build one united world basketball family and prioritize the development of all its members, gatherings like the one in Fiji are extremely important.

Topics at the MiSO included event management, child protection and codes of conduct. 

Those who attended the workshop in Fiji also evaluated their federations and came up with strategies for the basis of a NF strategic plan.

Michael Haynes, the representative of FIBA-Oceania on the World Association of Basketball Coaches (WABC), said to FIBA.com: "Basketball is incredibly popular in Oceania and the growth of the game is dependent on the people, good quality coaches, officials and administrators."

The people we worked with at the course came from four different federations and they learned a lot while working together. - Haynes

FIBA wants to have as many national federations as possible to take part in the qualification process for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

For this to happen, federations need to be organized.

They have to be strong.

There must be good coaching and development if countries are to put good, competitive teams on the court.

"There are some exciting things," Haynes said.

"The whole 3x3 movement and perhaps some of these smaller federations will have a bigger impact in that than the 5-on-5, and that's just a numbers thing, the number of players they have.

"The other thing is the competition structure that brings Asia and Oceania together. 

"It's bringing an exciting opportunity to Fiji and others to compete internationally.

"There will be athletes that will be showcased on a much bigger stage than there used to be."

It's one thing to have a MiSO course but something else to get the benefits from it.

With that in mind, FIBA in Oceania is coming up with three- to six-month action plans for each national federation to complete and put into operation the key organizational documents that were worked on during training at the MiSO.

The Fiji Amateur Basketball Federation is already building on its experience of taking part in the MiSO course.

FIBA