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FSM Participates in OBC Training in Australia

PALIKIR, Pohnpei (FSM Information Service): May 21, 1997 - Pohnpei Basketball head coach Aurelio Joab participated in a five-week intensive basketball coaching clinic at the Bankstown Basketball Association (BBA) Stadium in Australia which began in January 1997. Bankstown Basketball Stadium is the biggest in Australia and the venue for the year 2000 Olympic Games.

Joab was trained with island coaches from Fiji, Western Samoa, Samoa, Cook Islands, Papua New Guinea and Australia. His training was made possible through arrangement made last year by Steve Smith, Deputy Secretary General for Oceania Basketball Confederation (OBC) who conducted a Level I clinic during the Micronesia Basketball Confederation Tournament (MCBT) in Kosrae State from July 27 to August 3, 1996.

At the training, participants were taught the role of a coach, skills needed, sport psychology, philosophy of exercise, biomechanics and sports medicine. He is awaiting his final accreditation of his Level II basketball training from the New South Wales Basketball Association, Joab said. Meanwhile, he has acquired greater degree of knowledge and confidence in coaching.

He is currently certified and an active member of the National Baseball Congress (NBC). He recently was certified with five other Pohnpeians membership in the U.S. Amateur Softball Association (ASA). He is qualified to coach baseball and softball tournaments in the ASA jurisdiction and the National Baseball Congress.

During the Micronesian Regional Basketball tournament held in Kosrae from July 27 to August 3, 1996, nine teams participated, including Palau, Guam, CNMI, Chuuk, Pohnpei, Nauru, Kiribati, the Marshalls and Kosrae.