The Vanuatu Basketball team will be using the 2019 3x3 Asia Cup tournament to warm up for the Pacific Games in Samoa in July.
National Basketball Development Officer Sacha Duthu says the Asia tournament will be a good platform for the players to gain experience.
“We are going to face professional basketball players and at it will be the same as last year when we participated for the first time. We know that it’s not about losing or winning, but learning to make sure that we will be ready for the Pacific Games, and, with a lot of respect and humility, used to facing better basketball players than the ones that we going face in Samoa.”
Duthu adds apart from the atmosphere, the 3x3 game format will be challenging.
“It’s faster, more focused on your individual skills and ability to create for yourself. The group is very young, and all of them are the future of their sport in Vanuatu. They might not have conscious of it, but they are changing the game in their country, for the next generation, and I’m still amazed by our capacity to maximize every little thing that we have, and to progress, individually and as a group,” he said.
Duthu adds that the women’s side has shown immense improvement in the past few training sessions.
“We never forgot that the women’s team won a bronze medal back in 2017, training outside, on a cement court, with only one spotlight working at night. As a coach, a friend and a brother for all of them, I’m proud to see them improving, and becoming new players, and people that are going to give back something to their country,” Duthu said.