Dar big guns now gear up for 2018 RBA League

Basketball teams battle for points in a past championship. PHOTO| FILE

What you need to know:

Organised by Basketball Dar es Salaam, the eagerly awaited league will roar into life on February 10 at the National Indoor Stadium.

Dar es Salaam. As the 2018 Dar es Salaam Regional Basketball League (RBA) looms, top teams in the region are busy, fine-tuning ahead of what promises to be a mouth-watering league.

Organised by Basketball Dar es Salaam, the eagerly awaited league will roar into life on February 10 at the National Indoor Stadium.

BD chairman Okare Emesu said yesterday that preparations for the league were on course.

Emesu said they also want to ensure all players have valid contracts with their respective teams.

“We want to make sure no player takes part in the RBA League without a valid contract,” he stressed.

According to him, 26 teams will battle it out for top honours in this year’s league. Sixteen of them are men’s outfits and the rest are women’s sides.

He said the league will be staged three times a week on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at the same venue.

Oilers, who lost to JKT in the 2017 league final, have been undergoing intensive training in the city since last month, raring to emerge new champions this year.

The team’s head coach, Nichoraus Leonard said yesterday that, unlike in the past, his players now train twice a day.

“We have a number of young players who need adequate training to contain well-drilled outfits like Savio and JKT,” he said.

“I have to work more on the physical rather than technical aspect, which I have thoroughly worked on prior to the RBA League,” said Leonard,

Leonard, who has changed the team’s play style from individual showmanship to team work, said he was impressed with the way his team plays at the moment.

“After the RBA league, we will turn our focus on the National Basketball League (NBL) to be held in Dar es Salaam, and later the Union Cup whose venue is yet to be disclosed,” said the coach.