L. MathekaEmbakasi Youth readying for season without Busu
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Reading Time: 2min | Tue. 09.02.21. | 11:28
Joseph Ondinyo who had worked with Busu to deliver the fairytale 2019 season is now head coach
Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) 2019 men’s league semifinalist Embakasi Youth Basketball Association (EMYBA) have maintained a core of their squad ahead of the 2021 season set to jump off on Saturday 13, February.
Equity power forward Joshua Kisali surveys his options to breach the Emyba defense in the Game 1 quarterfinals of the 2019 Kenya Basketball Federation Premier League playoffs. pic.twitter.com/NAYJjLjo19
— Equity Bank Kenya (@KeEquityBank) November 4, 2019
EMYBA made their debut at the premier league in 2019, then under coach Brain Busu who has since left, and went on to reach the playoff semifinals where they fell to Nairobi City Thunder.
Equity power forward Joshua Kisali surveys his options to breach the Emyba defense in the Game 1 quarterfinals of the 2019 Kenya Basketball Federation Premier League playoffs. pic.twitter.com/NAYJjLjo19
— Equity Bank Kenya (@KeEquityBank) November 4, 2019
Former assistant coach Joseph Ondinyo who had worked with Busu to deliver the fairytale season has since taken over as head coach assisted by veteran team player Byron Erude and Abel Nson.
“None of our players has expressed intentions to leave and we are yet to bring in new players. We are banking on a mix of experience and youth for the new season as we work towards doing better than we did on our debut. Some of the veteran players like Nson, however, have taken up coaching full time and will not be part of the playing unit,” said Odinyo.
EMYBA were part of the lowly-attended KBF pre-season tournament where they lost two matches against Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) and Equity Bank but picked a win against division one varsity side Zetech University.
“From the tournaments played, our strength will remain our speed and ability to capitalize on fast breaks. We, however, still have work to do on rebounding on both ends of the court and execution on offense as well as perimeter shooting. We are setting our plays according to the strengths of each player,” added Odinyo.
According to Ondinyo, having experienced players and realizing the potential of each team member, both players and technical bench, helped them do well in the 2019 season. However, he hopes that they can beat some of the challenges they faced to do better in the next season.
“Every player gave their best against all teams but we had commitment challenges. Being a self-sponsored team, some of our players would be unavailable at times due to work and that gave us squad rotation challenges thus affecting our chemistry,” explained Odinyo
Odinyo's charges begin their title hunt with a clash against revamped Equity Bank on Saturday, 13 February.
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