NAURU – With their 50 year anniversary fast approaching, the Nauru Basketball Association (NBA) is preparing to host their celebration event in January of 2018.

With a population of 10,084, Nauru is the smallest state in the South Pacific – this small island country located Northeast of Australia in the Micronesian region is a proud sporting nation. Qualifying for the biggest Basketball event in the Pacific, Nauru was among the top 10 teams in the 2015 Pacific Games.

FIBA Development Manger Annie LaFleur recently visited to help plan the 50-year anniversary festivities and conduct a coach and referee certification clinic.

Many of the Men’s and Women’s national team players from the Pacific Games are eager to give back to the game they love and get more children playing in country. A number of these players were in attendance for the coaching and referee clinic during LaFleur’s visit.

“For these coaches, it’s all about giving back to the community,” commented LaFleur. “They want to get the country excited about basketball and the 50 year anniversary celebrations.”

These participants are now the first certified coaches and referees on Narau since 2009, putting the sport in the best position in years to grow and develop. These certified referees and coaches will be working in local schools and with volunteers to increase the popularity of basketball.

The Nauru local competition served as the perfect test for the newly certified referees

One of the national team players, Mendi Mwareow, already works with a handful of players but is now looking to expand into local schools with his fellow coaches.

This ambition was put to the test when Mendi and Sigrid (current women’s national team player) were put in front of 50 school children to run an hour long session.

“They were fantastic, Mendi came out of his shell when he got out on the court. You could really see his passion for coaching when he was working with those kids, he presented himself very well and the kids loved him.”

Local school children and coaches learning the fundamentals of defense

After such successful clinics, the Nauru school system is looking to partner with the NBA and run more of these sessions for their students.

Mendi, Sigrid and the other certified participants will now work with volunteers in country to increase certification numbers. This will help the association improve their overall capacity, increase the numbers of people playing and develop the sport in country for year’s to come.

FIBA