Junior development crucial, Khalu says

By PETER PUSAL
PNG national basketball coach Joel Khalu says junior development is crucial for sustaining the gains the country has made at the senior level over the last six years.
The Queenslander, who has been in charge of the senior men’s team since 2013, said he was pleased that the Basketball Federation of PNG had started to build its profile in the Oceania region by hosting major tournaments especially since the 2015 Pacific Games and coupling that with a good junior programme would carry on the momentum created.
“The first thing is that now there’s a new FIBA pathway for Oceania, I think that’s going to change not only the dynamic for PNG but basketball in the Pacific now that every year there’s going to be an Under-15 or a U17 Oceania Championship, that’s huge so,” Khalu, who was in the country recently running a training camp for the senior side, said.
BFPNG hosted the FIBA Oceania U15 Championships at the Taurama Aquatic Centre, Port Moresby, last month and despite the national teams (boys and girls) not performing as well as expected, it had provided a baseline for the code to work on.
“Let’s get the next generation of players that development they need. There has to be national championships every year and schools basketball is another big one we need to pick up the development of.”
Khalu said the fact that BFPNG was aiming to host more regional competitions would inspire more youth to consider basketball as a sport to take up.
“What’s great is that now young players know, both girls and boys, that they can represent the country at U15s and U17s, it may sway some of these kids that are possibly playing netball, or rugby league or AFL to go, ‘You know what, maybe I want to play basketball because I can play for PNG as a 15-year-old and I can play for PNG as a 17-year-old’, so if we can encourage a lot more of those athletic players to take up basketball that’s one big step forward.”
Khalu added that the junior development had to take place in tandem with the other areas of the sport. “Development has to happen through coaches. “We got to make sure our coaches get that training development,” he said.
“We’ll try to run a number of courses ear-marked for 2019 because you can’t develop players if you don’t develop quality coaches, so that’s another focus that’s going to be a positive thing.
“You’ve got to have referees and officials and volunteers.
“It’s a holistic approach,” Khlau said. Khalu said basketballers in PNG would have more opportunities to play at international level that would encourage the growth of the sport.
“Quantity breeds quality.
“The more kids that we have playing out there, the more coaches coaching, obviously, the level is just going to have to rise and over the next few years, I think we can really become a powerhouse in the Pacific.”