LEBL: A New League to Nurture Basketball Talent in Western Kenya
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- June 23, 2023
Basketball, like any other sport, needs good players to make it grow. Good players need good teams to nurture their talents. Good teams, in turn, need good leagues to be competitive in the game. In a nutshell, well-run basketball leagues in our country guarantee our players platforms to nurture and showcase what they got. There are many locally run leagues in Kenya, with Nairobi taking the lion’s share.
Enter the Lukos Energy-sponsored LEBL, and now this talent-laden side, the Western part of Kenya, has a legitimate league it can boast of and leverage to scale the heights of Kenyan basketball. The competition that tips off this weekend, on Saturday, 24th June, at the Kisumu Sportsground, will see 18 teams (as currently constituted) play in two zones or conferences. The goal is to eventually have 24 units divided equally among the two taking part.
The Victoria Conference will have teams from Nyanza and Western, while the Uplands Conference will have teams from Western and Rift Valley. At the end of the regular season, there will be playoff games that will culminate in a league’s finals bringing the two together. Quite the recipe for some good ball games, experiences, and networking if you ask me.
Here is the list of teams per conference as it stands:
Victoria conference
- Kwach
- Adili Basketball
- Raiders
- Urbanville Basketball
- Vihiga Titans
- Onjiko School
- Hashiras
- Maseno Dukes
Uplands conference
- Maseno School
- Mmust Titans
- Busia Raptors
- Malaba Hawks
- Mukumu Allstars
- Chetambe Bulls
- Kimilili Sonics
- Outsydaz
- Kape6ers
- Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA)
The clubs are a good mix of upcoming and experienced players all converging in a melting pot of good, structured basketball. Schools like Maseno and Onjiko will use the league as a toughening up ground for their students preparing for school games while established ball clubs seek to have it as a staging ground for higher KBF leagues. Everyone wins.
Kisumu, Kakamega, Kapsabet, Bungoma, Eldoret, Vihiga, Malaba, Kimilili are all ably represented here.
“In the pre-season meetings with teams, it was evident that a major sticking point in most of our leagues is usually the issue of (poor) officiating. We want to ensure we run a league of good integrity on and off the court and to do this we shall engage qualified and competent match officials to give all teams a fair chance at the title” says George Onassis, the league’s corporate liaison.
The LEBL coordinator, Brian Lusaga, on his part stresses the importance of the league to this region.
“When you look at the basketball landscape in this country, you will see a high number of players who rose through the ranks from this side of Kenya to national teams or leagues. We want to tap into that source and make it thrive more”, he says.
Lukos Energy as the league’s title sponsors, waived league fees to make it easier for teams to come on board. Crunch Time Sports have also come on board as the league’s kit partners and are set to kit the referees in designs unique to LEBL.
You can only expect better and bigger things from this new league on the block. Let the games begin!
