During the past two weeks, Geelong United Basketball (GUB) has played host to Fijian Men’s basketballers, Kennan Hughes and Filimone Waqabaca, as well as the national Fijian Women’s Head Coach (and Keenan’s father), Earl Hughes.
The group have been shadowing our players and coaches to gain some valuable experience they can bring back home, in an effort to expand Fiji’s basketball pathway from junior to elite level.
Speaking to GUB and the ABC, Fijian Women’s Head Coach, Earl Hughes said there are many procedures that he will look to take home and replicate on a smaller level – “Right now we don’t have anything established with regards to age-group basketball, so we’re looking to establish that level, through to playing internationally, and then obviously more placements overseas. My role in coming over here was to have a look at all the different areas of basketball being played in the community – I’ve had a chance to watch the game at all levels and seen how it all lines up within the GUB framework. I want to take away what I’ve seen and mirror that in the Fiji competition to help our associations at home.”
The partnership, initiated by FIBA Oceania, has been one that has offered a lot of insight into the Australian style of basketball for Earl, Keenan and Filimone. Coming in during the midpoint of the season presented many learning opportunities regarding the ups and down of the game – “We’re watching them play the hard games,” Earl said. “The boys are learning, I’m learning as a coach just by watching the Geelong United Women’s and Men’s coaches. It’s been a valuable experience for which we are very grateful.”
NBL1 Men’s Head Coach, Grant Wallace has been highly impressed by our Fijian visitors and their work ethic both on and off the court – “Keenan and Filimone are athletic – Their strength and physicality translate well to how the NBL1 is played… They’re just sponges, everything you say, they want to learn and coach Earl is the same – He’s writing down notes and taking in as much as he can from every conversation.”
Speaking on the experience itself, Wallace hopes it’ll be a learning opportunity that more organisations would look to take advantage of – “The infrastructure here at Geelong, the city, and everything that we’ve done here, it’s all in one really nice place… And I guess that’s why we’ve now got a WNBL license here next season – So we really tick all the boxes there.”
