Basketball Champions...Well Practically

Last week Tanzania conducted a huge national sports competition in Dar es Salaam. I don’t understand all the particulars very well, but it seems that athletes from every sport (basketball, volleyball, soccer, track and field, netball, table tennis and others) and from all over Tanzania congregated in Dar es Salaam to compete. Tanzania is divided into 9 different zones. For each sport a zonal team was formed from the best players from all of the schools in that zone. There are 8 players on the women’s basketball team from my zone, and 6 of them are players from Songea Girls. Go team!

I didn’t actually travel with the team, however the other basketball coach, Chitimbe, from my school was appointed as the coach for our zones’ men’s and women’s basketball teams. It was great to wish them luck as they prepared to load the bus to Dar es Salaam with their travel blankets in hand. It reminded me of volleyball road trips at UPS. I am glad they get a little taste of the excitement I experienced playing competitive sports.

Luckily I had a Peace Corps meeting in Dar es Salaam last week while the competition was going on, so I was hoping to make it to one of the games. Chitimbe told me there would be a game on Thursday morning at 8 am, which fit into my schedule perfectly. He gave me the name of the school and told me I could take a bus there, but I didn’t have any idea where the school was. I asked my host in Dar es Salaam if she knew of Kibaha Secondary School or the hospital that is next to it. After checking some maps and asking around we thought we figured out where it was. Well, I arrived at the school where we thought the competition was being held just exactly at 8 am, but soon realized that it was the wrong school. I asked some people on the street if they could tell me how to get to Kibaha. Tanzanians are generally incredibly helpful about giving directions. The man I asked was very eager to show me which way to go. I asked if it was far away and he said, “Not very far, you will arrive before 10 am.”

At this point I thought I would miss the game for sure, but I decided to go anyway just to at least see my players. I had to take three different buses, and about and hour and a half later I finally arrived at the school. As I walked up the path to the school I saw one of the volleyball players from Songea Girls. She eagerly led me to the basketball court and assured me that the girls had not yet played. We passed by the track where some races were going on. I had never seen such a nice track and stadium in Tanzania; certainly most high schools here have nothing. The atmosphere really felt like a state track meet. Hand in hand (Tanzanians like to hold hands) the student and I approached the basketball court. My basketball girls saw us in the distance and swarmed me! It was wonderful to experience their excitement and I was incredibly glad that I hadn’t given up on coming.

I watched the end of the boys’ game and then the girls’ game started. The boys lost, but my girls won handily, advancing to the semifinals! After the game the players and other athletes from our zone danced and celebrated. Tanzanians sure know how to celebrate after a victory. I didn’t get to see any other games, but my team won the semifinals and then ended up finishing 2nd overall! Not bad at all.