Samoa determined to climb the world rankings
SAMOA – Samoa is a basketball nation on the rise with a string of strong performances over the last few years in the Oceania region. Through their performances in recent FIBA events, we have seen great improvement in Samoa’s standing on the world stage.
Following the FIBA U18 Oceania Championships 2016, the Samoan boy’s Nike world ranking jumped 10 positions as they overtook the likes of Singapore, Morocco and Fiji to sit at number 83 in the world.
The improvement hasn’t just been seen on the boy’s side, with the girl’s Nike World Ranking improving 18 positions as of December 2016. Samoa now sits above teams such as Bulgaria, Estonia and Fiji to come in at number 71 in the world. In both cases, aside from Fiji, these other nations are playing in regular, high-level competition – making Samoa’s rise all the more significant.
This improvement is off the back of a 3rd place (girls) and 5th placed (boys) finish in the 2016 event – and the improvement won’t stop there. With the girls backing up with another bronze and the boys improving to 4th in the 2017 events. (Rankings will be updated following the summer of events for FIBA).
With results like this, you must give credit to the coaching development in that country. Samoa National Basketball Federation (SNBF) President, Talalelei Pauga has started a beginner coaching course in Samoa called “Start Coaching Basketball”. This has been put in place to help develop basketball knowledge for potential local coaches so they can get involved in basketball.
Following the initial strong interest and overwhelming success of the “Start Coaching Basketball” program, FIBA in Oceania Development Manager Annie La Fleur was invited to Samoa to help further develop the Samoan coaching pathway.
During her time in Samoa, La Fleur helped conduct a “Rookie Coach Course” for 17 participants. The course built upon the “Start Coaching Basketball” platform through both theoretical and practical coach education sessions, with La Fleur able to impact on the participants her extensive experience at the highest levels of the sport.
FIBA Development Manager - Oceania, Annie La Fleur during her time in Samoa
“It’s fantastic that the Federation is really focusing on coach development,” said La Fleur. “We have seen Samoa’s youth national teams show great improvement in recent years, but in order to continue that trend there needs to be continual development locally.”
“The Start Coaching Basketball and Rookie Coach Course are good pathways to bring new coaches to the sport and further the education of coaches who are already involved.”
La Fleur also worked one-on-one with the Federation’s National Basketball Development Officer (NBDO), Linda Kelsall on the Federations development plan and completing FIBA’s 3x3 Academy training program. Following Samoa’s impressive results in 2017, the teams will now participate in further competitions in Asia in 2018– which will no doubt see their world ranking continue to rise.
FIBA
