Emyba coach Odinyo out to seal the leaks, eyes basketball league title

Dennis Kamariki

Emyba men basketball team head coach Jose Odinyo says he has identified the ”weak areas” in his squad that have to be improved on ahead of the new season.

Last term the team had a fairly impressive run in the regular league finishing at position six and reaching the semifinals of the playoffs and Odinyo wants to go one step further by improving the weak areas for a potential title challenge this term.

“We are working hard on rebounding, perimeter shooting and more dynamic offense which were our major weakness last season,” Odinyo said.

To solve the issue, Odinyo said he is planning to recruit two rebounders and one shooter to boost the squad and to continue the core they had last year and be more dynamic.

The coach is however happy that his team went beyond expectations last term, and hopes a further injection of fresh blood could be the jigsaw to their title quest.

“We had planned to qualify for the playoffs but we went up to the semi-finals which was a very big thing to us and now we’re looking forward to reaching the final and playing regional games next season,” he added.

At the same time the tactician says his team is yet to begin team training but are rather involving themselves in individual training as they wait for sports resumption.

The sports industry has held its collective breath awaiting the government’s pronouncement on the matter.

“We are doing personal workouts as we wait for the go ahead from the ministry of sports on resumptions,”‘ he added.

The Embakasi based side finished sixth in the 2019 regular league with 32 points and were knocked out by Thunder basketball team in the semi-finals after eliminating Equity Bank in the quarters.

After the Corona pandemic is over and sports activities resume, Odinyo says they will be able to review the squad and start recruiting in the readiness for the league kick-off.

Sports activities in the country were halted due to the Corona pandemic which affected almost all events with basketball league which was primed for a March restart being thrown in the back-burner.

Odinyo said he is currently engaging his players through online meetings via Zoom in a bid to keep them fit.