mastaa wa zamani wa ukerewe katika picha ya pamoja na wachezaji wa simba kabla ya mechi yao ya kirafiki ambapo wachezaji hao walichezea gsb-makongo ambayo wakati naondoka haftaimu walikuwa wameshakunywa 4-0. na hadi mwisho matokeo nasikia ni hayo hayo
Hasheem Thabeet pride of Dar in America
ReplyDelete2007-01-24 09:36:09
By Pat Eaton-robb
Hasheem Thabeet smiles at the misconceptions he?s heard about himself. Connecticut`s 7-3 freshman center is from Tanzania, but he did not grow up with lions in the African bush. And, yes, he had seen a basketball before coming to the United States.
The 19-year-old Thabeet describes himself as a middle-class big-city kid from Dar es Salaam, which has a population of 2.5 million. He played soccer and other sports while growing up, and has played organized basketball for about four years.
Before that, he just shot baskets by himself.
?When I was 15, I was already bigger than everybody,? Thabeet says, speaking slowly in a thickly accented bass voice. ?So even when I started to play basketball, I used to go play with adults, people 20-something years old. I couldn?t play with kids who were 15 years old. Their size was so small.?
Now he?s starting for the Huskies, averaging more than four blocked shots, seven points and seven rebounds per game.
His coaches say Thabeet could become one of the best big men to come out of Connecticut, which has produced Cliff Robinson, Donyell Marshall and Emeka Okafor.
Standing under the basket with his arms outstretched, Thabeet covers almost the entire lane. His presence changes offenses. Players, such as South Florida?s Solomon Bozemon, who normally drive to the basket, tend to stay out of the lane.
?When you get two or three shots blocked, it changes life,? Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said after UConn?s recent 69-50 win over the Bulls. ?Bozeman was going by people he shot 107 foul shots coming into the game. The next closest guy in the league is 37 away. When he went into the lane he saw Hasheem and just kept right on going.?
Thabeet was playing for a Tanzanian club team at a tournament in Kenya when he began hearing about opportunities to come to the United States.
He used a computer at his school to contact coaches at prep schools in the United States, hoping to use basketball as an avenue to get an education and ease the financial strain on his widowed mother, Rukia Manka, a businesswoman with two younger children ? a son, Akbar, and a daughter, Shan.
?I told her this might be a good opportunity for me just to get over there and go to school and play basketball,? Thabeet said. ?Before September 11, in my country, the U.S. embassy, they blew it up.
So, to let you out, you have to have all the papers, the scholarship papers, everything. After a month I went back over there, and showed them papers, and got a lot of questions, ?Why are you leaving? Are you going to come back?? After a long process, they allowed me to go.?
He has been on his own ever since.
Thabeet tried schools in California and Mississippi before finally settling at Cypress Christian School in Houston, where coach Mark McClanahan arranged for Thabeet to stay at the home of a family that had done missionary work in Africa.
?I didn?t know who to trust and who not to trust,? Thabeet said. ?They put trust on me, so I got to show them trust back. That?s how it works.?
While playing in Houston, Thabeet was spotted by Kenneth Henry, who had played basketball in Australia with UConn assistant coach Andre LaFleur. He called LaFleur and told him to come down and take a look.
?I sent some feelers out in Houston and no one had really heard of him,? said LaFleur. ?But my friend was really persistent. So I went down last December. When I saw him, I was intrigued with his size and athleticism, but he was really raw.?
LaFleur said he saw Thabeet play several more times, and ?started seeing signs of special with him.?Every time I saw him, he got better, and not just a little bit better, he made astronomical progress,? LaFleur said.
Thabeet said he had hoped to get good enough to play for a Division II or Division III school. He never dreamed a school such as UConn would be interested, and was thrilled to get the scholarship offer.
Because of complications with his transcripts from Houston and Tanzania, Thabeet wasn?t declared eligible until just before the season started.
Now he?s being asked questions about whether he will stay in college or leave at the end of this season for the NBA. He said he still needs to get stronger and work on his offensive game before he even considers taking that step.
``Whenever I?m ready to go, that?s when I?m going to go,`` Thabeet said. ``I can?t say I?m going to leave after this year because, whenever I?m going to feel myself that I?m ready to go, that?s when I?m going to go.?
Thabeet talks to his family by phone or on the computer about once a week, but hasn?t been home in more than three years. He gets homesick a lot, and misses the food. He said UConn?s coaches and players have become a second family to him, and provide a great support system.
?He?s a great teammate,? said forward Jeff Adrien. ?He?s a funny guy. He has a lot of jokes and he?s just a good kid. I hope he knows how good he could be.
I know how good he could be. If he puts in the work, he could be a great player. He could be one of the UConn best bigs that ever played.?
LaFleur said Thabeet still has a long way to go before he reaches that potential, but doesn?t doubt he?ll get there.
?Look how far he?s already come,? he said.
SOURCE: Guardian