Reigning national basketball champions Butere Girls High School are hoping that they will finally get it right and bag their maiden East Africa trophy.
The Cannons will be making their fourth appearance at the Federation of East Africa Secondary Schools Sports Association (FEASSSA) games set for August 14-23 in Kakamega.
Having won last year’s basketball 3X3 title, they are hoping that they will succeed in the longer version of the game. The Cannons will not be defending the 3x3 East Africa title because they are yearning to excel in 5X5.
Butere coach Chris Odeke said they have directed all their energies in the 5X5 team because they so badly want the title.
“We really wanted the 5X5 title hence investing in it heavily. We put all our top players in the team and started training 3X3 players from scratch and so they didn’t make it past the Western Region due to lack of experience,” Odeke said.
Exuding confidence, Odeke said his charges have prepared well and are ready for the East Africa challenge.
“I have confidence in my squad because they have been working very hard in readiness for these games. We set goals at the beginning of the year and have already achieved our first goal, which was to retain the national title. We had to have our top guns in the team to make it happen because we knew winning against Kaya Tiwi at the Coast was a tall order,” he added.
Odeke noted that with home advantage and lessons learned from previous championships, Kenya can reclaim the girls’ basketball title from the Ugandans.
“Playing at home comes with support and we intend to capitalise on that to perform better than we have done in the last four competitions. We also carried home invaluable lessons that will help us in this year’s campaign.”
Butere made their debut in 2018 finishing fourth which is their best performance at the regional games so far.
They missed the 2019 games held in Arusha Tanzania, but returned strong in 2023 winning the national title and have defended it in 2024 and 2025 hence qualifying the East Africa showpiece.
However, just like other Kenyan teams have struggled on the FEASSSA stage. The tactician revealed that training with the referees in mind, not being over confident and underrating other teams and strengthening all departments are some of the key lessons he has learned over the years.
“You must train with the referees in mind and prepare the players to understand that some decisions may not be in their favour and above all as a coach not getting carried away when you are not happy is a major lesson for me.”
The Cannons will bank on the services of national most valuable player and forward Mary Awino, captain Wangui and fellow guards Chelsea Onamu and Trixy Akinyi as well as big men Yvonne Sheryl and Rihanna Mercy.
Butere will lead Kenya’s onslaught against their East African compatriots in a bid to reclaim the title they last won in 2016.
Kaya Tiwi, who are the last Kenyan side to win the trophy, St Joseph’s Girls High School Kitale and Olympic High School complete Kenya’s girls basketball lineup. Buruburu who ranked fourth were the best performing Kenyan side at last year’s games held in Mbale Uganda. Butere and Kaya Tiwi finished sixth and seventh respectively.
