My older brother, Steve Veryser, is raising funds for a basketball program at the Bwiru Boys School in Mwanza, Tanzania. In the spirit of the giving season, I wanted to share how his school is building its basketball program and invite your support for their efforts to build a new court. Steve has served in Africa for 20 years and coordinates mission work for the Maryknoll Catholic Mission across eastern Africa. In his "free time," he teaches high school math at the Bwiru Boys School.
Their old court:
Across Africa, soccer is the most popular sport. Millions watch it, and many young boys dream of going professional in the sport. But, as with any sport, the opportunities to go professional are limited, and sometimes physical traits might redirect an athlete's passion to another sport.
The Bwiru Boys School is located on the southern shore of Lake Victoria and sits on a hill with views of the famous lake. The school was founded by British colonizers in the 1920s and houses about 1,000 boys for secondary schooling (high school). While they have a strong soccer program, they have found success by positioning student-athletes in growing sports like volleyball and basketball. By developing skills for niche sports like basketball, their students have been selected for opportunities to play at national and international levels.
Additionally, these sports play to some of the strengths of the region. Northern Tanzania and southern Kenya share a heritage with one of the tallest populations on the planet, the Maasai Tribe. While much of Africa struggles with stunted growth due to malnutrition, some of Tanzania's population stands significantly taller than their peers. The NBA considers the expansion of pro teams in Africa an important growth strategy, and over a dozen players in the league hail from Africa, including All-Star Pascal Siakam and reigning MVP Joel Embiid.
After starting a basketball program this year, the Bwiru Boys team was invited to participate in tournaments in Mwanza and performed well against local competition. Several athletes were invited to join a Tanzania youth team at a regional tournament in Rwanda, but they got their butts kicked. The team's coach is hyper-competitive and has a bias for action, and decided they needed a proper court to practice on. The court they've been practicing on at the school is dirt. As you can imagine, it's dusty in the dry season and muddy and rutted in the rainy season. The teachers realized they needed a proper concrete court to practice on for the students to develop further and asked my brother if he could help them find funding.
They got started with locally available materials, and Steve raised about $1,500 for the initial 18-meter by 28-meter foundation. So far, they've trenched the foundation, laid 600 blocks, backfilled it to level, compacted the surface, made new backboards, and built new goalposts. Laying the foundation was a school-wide effort, and the coach asked all 1,000 students to carry about 50 buckets of dirt/clay to fill the court.
The team is playing on the compacted and level dirt court for now and continuing to raise the $6,000 required for the concrete pour. The hard-packed dirt court surface, which is smooth, level, and protected from runoff water in this heavy rainy season, is actually a significant improvement over the loose dirt court they had before. Steve jokes that they might start an ecological clay-court basketball trend.
Some pictures of the court renovation in action:
And some photos of the students practicing on the updated clay court:
And finally a photo of them in competition (in black). Looking fresh with jerseys and gear donated by European teams!
Let me know if you have any questions! I'll do my best to answer them or pass them along to my brother. Thank you for reading & Go Flyers!
If you want to read a little more, my brother posted a blog here - https://mklm.org/tanzania/jumpshots-and-water-pipes/
If you want to contribute, they have a gofundme style page here - https://secure.givelively.org/donat...tion-of-the-faithful-inc/basketball-and-water
And, if you have an account at the Dayton Foundation, Maryknoll Lay Missioners Foundation is already in their database, and you can request your donation to this project.
Their old court:
Across Africa, soccer is the most popular sport. Millions watch it, and many young boys dream of going professional in the sport. But, as with any sport, the opportunities to go professional are limited, and sometimes physical traits might redirect an athlete's passion to another sport.
The Bwiru Boys School is located on the southern shore of Lake Victoria and sits on a hill with views of the famous lake. The school was founded by British colonizers in the 1920s and houses about 1,000 boys for secondary schooling (high school). While they have a strong soccer program, they have found success by positioning student-athletes in growing sports like volleyball and basketball. By developing skills for niche sports like basketball, their students have been selected for opportunities to play at national and international levels.
Additionally, these sports play to some of the strengths of the region. Northern Tanzania and southern Kenya share a heritage with one of the tallest populations on the planet, the Maasai Tribe. While much of Africa struggles with stunted growth due to malnutrition, some of Tanzania's population stands significantly taller than their peers. The NBA considers the expansion of pro teams in Africa an important growth strategy, and over a dozen players in the league hail from Africa, including All-Star Pascal Siakam and reigning MVP Joel Embiid.
After starting a basketball program this year, the Bwiru Boys team was invited to participate in tournaments in Mwanza and performed well against local competition. Several athletes were invited to join a Tanzania youth team at a regional tournament in Rwanda, but they got their butts kicked. The team's coach is hyper-competitive and has a bias for action, and decided they needed a proper court to practice on. The court they've been practicing on at the school is dirt. As you can imagine, it's dusty in the dry season and muddy and rutted in the rainy season. The teachers realized they needed a proper concrete court to practice on for the students to develop further and asked my brother if he could help them find funding.
They got started with locally available materials, and Steve raised about $1,500 for the initial 18-meter by 28-meter foundation. So far, they've trenched the foundation, laid 600 blocks, backfilled it to level, compacted the surface, made new backboards, and built new goalposts. Laying the foundation was a school-wide effort, and the coach asked all 1,000 students to carry about 50 buckets of dirt/clay to fill the court.
The team is playing on the compacted and level dirt court for now and continuing to raise the $6,000 required for the concrete pour. The hard-packed dirt court surface, which is smooth, level, and protected from runoff water in this heavy rainy season, is actually a significant improvement over the loose dirt court they had before. Steve jokes that they might start an ecological clay-court basketball trend.
Some pictures of the court renovation in action:
And some photos of the students practicing on the updated clay court:
And finally a photo of them in competition (in black). Looking fresh with jerseys and gear donated by European teams!
Let me know if you have any questions! I'll do my best to answer them or pass them along to my brother. Thank you for reading & Go Flyers!
If you want to read a little more, my brother posted a blog here - https://mklm.org/tanzania/jumpshots-and-water-pipes/
If you want to contribute, they have a gofundme style page here - https://secure.givelively.org/donat...tion-of-the-faithful-inc/basketball-and-water
And, if you have an account at the Dayton Foundation, Maryknoll Lay Missioners Foundation is already in their database, and you can request your donation to this project.
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