Maishakiasi

TANZANIA'S NBA HASHEEM THABEET

Dar Es Salaam — TANZANIA'S NBA player, Hasheem Thabeet has given an uplifting message to aspiring basketball players, telling them the chances are there to follow on his footsteps, but they

should work hard enough.

Hasheem nicknamed 'The Dream' made NBA history during the 2009 NBA draft as the first ever player to be drafted to the league from Tanzania and he described it 'a great opportunity."

His achievement has turned him a national hero for young athletes and now back in the country for a two-week vacation, the 22-year old Memphis Grizzlies centre said if they can put in great effort and endurance, local basketball players could tread on his path.

"Every year they take six new players, when some gets the opportunity he should grasp it with both hands, work hard, have a good attitude and be yourself, it is very important," Thabeet said in an exclusive interview with the East African Television during Friday night show programme hosted by Jimmy Kabwe.

While most aspiring local basketball players will be looking at him as an inspirational towards achieving their dreams, Thabeet shared his experience saying: "For me to get to this position, it took a lot of sacrifices."

Among the challenges he pointed out is that of being discouraged by some who don't know the ability of local athletes to hit the top level and parents who see sports as an obstacle towards their children's better life in the future.

"When I was going to the training at the University of Dar es Salaam, some people used to say Kikapu! Kikapu Bongo? There were a lot of doubters down there." I've a lot of thanks to my mom, she supported me a lot, you know here a lot of parents emphasize on the education than sports, but my mom believed that I could make it, hence she supported me a lot."

Hasheem became the highest draft pick ever to be demoted down to the minors with The Grizzlies acknowledging then that he was a project. He had dropped to 3rd string for the Grizzlies and was not seeing much playing time.

"I didn't play in most of the opening games of the season and I used a lot of time in training. If you don't see the court it is hard to improve. "You come off the bench you play four or five minutes they take you out, you know when I was in college I was playing for thirty minutes and that is how I made the name for myself."