Youth Basketball League comes up in Arusha, March

A special basketball league for young children comes up in Arusha city during the first week of March 2023.

To be known as ‘Pamoja D League,’ the basketball event features Under-18, Under-16, Under-14 and ‘Under -12’ as well as ‘Under 10,’ youngsters.

There will be at least 150 of them from different schools all over the Arusha Urban District and surrounding areas.

The youth basketball league will be mostly staged on weekend days of Saturday and Sunday to allow the participants attend classes during week days.

Meanwhile the third season for basketball training among the youth in Arusha is kicking off at the Ngarenaro Sports Complex, involving 70 primary and secondary school students.

Organized by Pamoja Basketball the program has taken aboard pupils and students from mostly the Ngarenaro and Mwangaza Primary Schools that share the same grounds.

Also in the program is the neighbouring Ngarenaro Secondary, with a few other students coming from Levolosi and Kaloleni Primary institutions.

“We are opening the new year of training programs,” said the coordinator Masanja Mjaba.

However pupils attending classes that sit for examinations such as Standards Four and Seven are usually absent most of the time.

That is because they are fully involved in studies, though some manage to make it during weekends when the number rises to nearly 150 youths,”

Mjaba, who is the head coach in the program, explains that this is the third season in the series.

“We now have strong teams of young basketball players and the District girls’ team have managed to emerge victorious during the Jakaya Kikwete tournament in Dar-es-salaam in the Under-14 category of competition.

Masanja says at the moment Arusha Region has more than 150 qualified young basketball players.

On the other hand Arusha City is organizing a special basketball camp or clinic specifically for girls known as ‘Her Time to Shine!’

It is among the Pamoja Basketball Program which aims to incubate qualified girls’ players in the district for future national and international sporting events.