Kenya women’s Deaf basketball team picks valuable lessons from Deaflympics

CAXIAS do Sul, Brazil, May 10 – National Deaf Women’s basketball Coach Mary Chepkoi admits that being lined up in the group of death against established teams ruined their pool aspirations at the 24th Summer Deaflympics in Caxius Do Sul, Brazil.

The Kenya team lost all its pool matches to finish fourth but were handed a lifeline to play in the quarters on grounds of numbers given that women’s basketball has  attracted only eight teams.

What this means is that all the eight teams proceeded automatically to the quarterfinals where Kenya faced Italy, going down 34-79 to bow out.

The Kenya women’s basketball team is making its second Deaflympics appearance following their 2017 debut in Samsun, Turkey.

“It’s always been our dream to be at the Deaflympics. About performance, for sure, we haven’t done well. We were in the pool of death against the USA, Turkey and Lithuania.”

“Those are teams that are well established in basketball and also in sports in general. Like the USA, for instance, have programmes where their Deaf players are not categorized as Deaf players,” Coach Chepkoi said.

She added, “they play alongside their hearing counterparts and are incorporated in different teams. So for them it’s not that they are segregated and have better experience handling these games than we are.”

Asked about the weaker link in the team, Chepkoi noted that she is working on the team’s defense and closing out on the shots where the USA and Lithuania had a number of three shots which we were never able to reply.

“We are also working to correct our penetration. We are working on closing in on that. Also, we need to cut down on fouling. We got the best of our three of our players in foul trouble in the second quarter, so we were forced to sit out,” she explained.

Chepkoi also noted that the idea of waiting for four years to play in the Deaflympics will be a thing of the past.

She revealed a structured plan to work with the Federation to introduce a Deaf League for them to continue playing after Brazil.

Chepkoi is excited by the fact that her players are physically fit and lighter and can run well.

“When we go back home, we are going to incorporate these players in the hearing teams because there are no leagues for Deaf basketball. We will also push the coaches in the teams to at least give them two or three minutes, so play to help them improve,” she said.

-Alex Isaboke is reporting from Caxias do Sul, Brazil-