Tibe is an African giant
Basketball player wins continental grant
While local Basketball is still growing, Kaelo Tibe has put the country on the map by winning the 1000 USD from Giants of Africa as the only nominee from southern Africa and tells BG Sport that his plan is to host his own Basketball camp, and assist in the development of the sport locally. Giants of Africa is an organization that aims at using the sport of Basketball as a means to teach and enrich the lives of African youth. While they have always looked out for African Basketball players, this year, they have decided to introduce a grant program to benefit different countries within the continent. This program comprises of a total of three different grants namely; Education grant, Volunteer grant and Pay it forward grant, where one is given 1000 USD, which Tibe benefited from.
He tells this publication that each alumni of the Giants of Africa camp was eligible to apply for any of these three grants, and with his passion for Basketball he tried his luck. “I am one person who wishes to see local Basketball reaching an international standard, and so I always utilize any available opportunity,” he said, adding that winning the grant means a lot to him. Out of 110 participants, only eight of them were selected as winners and he was the only one selected from Southern Africa. This, he says, gives him hope and assurance that Botswana could get somewhere in Basketball. For the past four years that Tibe spent in China, he played for his school team, where he has done exceptionally well. “I did well for my school team, and also played for a semi- professional
team in Qingdao, China where I should admit, I have learnt a lot, and intend on using my grant to host a camp and impart my skills among the young basketball players,” says Tibe.
He has also won an award for the best 3- point shooter at an independent tournament, still in China, where his team also got position three. He therefore says that Giants of Africa’s first ever grants came at an opportune time when the world is battling a pandemic, and sports is inactive. “These are the kind of activities that give us hope and I am excited for this grant as I have always wanted to do my part in helping develop local Basketball,” he says, adding that he believes that he owes it to the younger generation, to give them more opportunities to play Basketball on a world standard.
All he dreams of is to see the country on a Professional basketball level, and local players recognised internationally. He thus applauds Giants of Africa for their contribution in helping to develop different communities and empower the youth through sports. Giants of Africa achieves this, by travelling to African countries and running a week long Basketball camp, where they help players improve their basketball skills.
Tibe reiterates that this is exactly what is needed in Botswana as they are not at the same level with neighbouring countries, in terms of Baskeball.
“My wish is to see Botswana competing with countries like Egypt and Senegal in the future,” he says, noting that he is confident his own Basketball camp would make a difference. He plans on starting as soon as it was declared safe for athletes to play once again.