Author: MBONILE BURTON
AfricaPress-Tanzania: TANZANIAN Under-16 basketball player Rosemary Nicholaus was so impressive among the participants of virtual Jr NBA Global Championship life skills seminar held in Orlando, USA over the weekend.
As part of the 2020 Jr NBA Global Championship, the NBA Global Ambassador and Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo hosted the life skills seminar for boys and girls from 10 African countries.
NBA Africa Senior Manager, Business Communication, Pawel Weszka told the ‘Daily News’ the presence of the NBA legend helped much to inspire the youthful players as he spoke about the role of basketball in his life and answered a lot of questions about the importance of education and discipline in overcoming challenges, setting ambitious goals and using basketball as a platform to impact others.
He said Rosemary from Tanzania wanted to know how Dikembe overcame adversity when growing up in the then war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo.
The NBA legend spoke about facing bullying in his youth and shared his advice with the young people on the call: “Try to find your own identity and try to make people respect your own identity and who you are. Don’t let anybody change you.”
Weszka statement added that, Dikembe spoke on variety of topics, among them the power of discipline.
“The fundamental principle of basketball is discipline. Without discipline you won’t be able to last more than two years, maybe no more than one year. You have to have a discipline; you have to have a commitment yourself and a certain goal that you are trying to accomplish.”
About the importance of education Dikembe said: “Without education I would not have been where I am today. I got a chance to play basketball because I did get an education scholarship to go to school, to study, to become somebody. Then I got an avenue to play basketball.
“I would not be the basketball player that I am today if I didn’t get a chance to go to a great school, like Georgetown University, and have an opportunity to play under coaches like John Thompson. So all of that comes from education.”
“What we are asking our young players is, no matter what you want to do in life, education is still the most fundamental thing that you need to carry (you) on after the game is over. Nelson Mandela told us that education is the most powerful thing that we can give to every child.”
“You might have a chance to play professional basketball for five years, for 10 years, no matter where you’re going – the NBA, Europe, Asia – but remember, when the game is over, you will fall back to your education to survive in the society. And that’s very important.”
He also explained basketball as a platform for change adding: “The game of basketball delivers such a great platform to accomplish everything we want to do in life. Like the great Madiba said, sport has the power to change the world and that sports have the power to change our community.”
