I have found basketball in Kiribati. That didn't take long. For those interested their website is http://www.oceaniasport.com/kiribatibasketball
The standard of basketball here is, as I guessed,
very much like Tanzania. Those who
followed that experience will understand.
The first game was due to start at 5pm. As I had to get from work to the basketball
court which was one end of the atoll to the other, I turned up at 5.40pm. As soon as I arrived I was asked to referee
as the referees hadn't arrived. I
politely declined as I didn't have my whistle and wasn't using the community
whistles. I was also still in my work
clothes which are hot enough when walking.
When the first game finally started at 6.15pm, of the 12 players, 4 wore
shoes. It was women’s game, something
Tanzania, or at least Arusha, didn’t have.
The biggest difference with basketball in Kiribati is
that they have one indoor court and if you don't look at the floor it is a fantastic
facility with proper lighting. The floor
on the other hand has not been maintained and needs replacing, but it would be
a waste of time and money if a replacement floor also wasn't going to be
maintained correctly. The scoreboard
sits on the scoretable, so you can only see it from the court and seating on
the opposite side.
There are more players involved in basketball here
than there was in Tanzania and on first impressions it looks to be better run
as well. The games I saw were fully
timed 8 minute quarters with a shot clock.
The next surprise was most of the players play
barefoot, and of the few who did have shoes I saw two of them throw their shoes
off the court mid game - never seen that before.
I did end up on the court, but only shadowing
referees to show them where they should be standing and what they should be
looking at. It was hard not to signal
fouls and violations while doing this, but as I had no whistle, the signals I
did make for the obvious fouls were usually called anyway….OK, sometimes
called. The last game, being Div 1, was
scheduled to start at 9.30pm. I left at
9pm, and the game prior to Div 1 was just starting.
I have been told that this weekend is their grand
finals and the Div 1 was playing at 4pm, so I made my way out for the
afternoon, all prepared this time, but hoping I can stay off the court, or at
least not have a whistle in my mouth. I
had been informed that the games began at 9am.
I arrived at 1.30pm and was then told the games were due to begin at
2pm. There were four games to be played
and each fully timed, so my guess was 6 hours at least to get through them
all. Starting to have a familiar ring to
it?
I told them I had a dinner engagement at 6pm, so my
time was limited and I was leaving at 5pm.
The first game finally began about 3.15pm and finished about 4.40pm, so
I only got to see one game and still don’t know what their Div 1 is like.
While watching the games I did see there was only
two times where I saw anybody even question a call, and in both instances, they
let it go fairly quickly. I thought this
was because the locals are so accepting.
When I asked if it ever get heated, they said Div 1 did on occasions, so
I’m looking forward to seeing how the referees handle that. The grand final should give them plenty of
reasons to bring some passion into the game.
Now a quiz for those interested and basketball
minded. Pick out as many faults as you
can with the basketball photo. I didn't
realise until after I took the pic and have since found four things that
could/would be a problem.
There may be more I have missed.
On to the Sydney trip which was a nice escape for a
few days.
We discovered two additional things we forgot we
missed:
Drinking water from a tap
Spoons that didn't bend
If ever there was a chance for natural selection it
was on the flight back to Australia. Due
to turbulence, the seat belt sign stayed on for well over an hour and regular
announcements were made to remain seated, but there were some who believed these
announcements didn't apply to them (read Bogans). I can understand the ones racing to the
toilet, but others were just standing around talking. Unfortunately, we didn't hit any big
turbulence, so all survived. Then there
was one in front of Denise who insisted on having his seat back for the
majority of the flight, even when he got up.
At least the flight attendant got him to put it up during the meal. We also had some kids making a noise, but we
both have noise cancelling headphones, a must for any air travel, so all good
there.
The good bit of the trip was getting into the
lounge in Nadi on our transit for a few hours of relaxation - very
pleasant. This little pleasure was also
enjoyed on our return journey in Melbourne and Nadi.
The temperature in Fiji was a little cool, although
others who got on in Nadi assured us it
was hot. Sydney wasn't looking good for
people who must be somewhat acclimatised to the tropics and are only traveling
with shorts, shirts and no jumpers.
For the first few days in Sydney we got to watch
many breaching whales which were about 2-3km out, but you could see some
completely out of the water.
The wedding was great, but the highlight was
catching up with family and friends, especially family. We even received a call from daughter 3 who
is out of the country for the next few months.
The return flights were Sydney (20:30), Melbourne
(yes, fly South to go North at midnight), Nadi (08:00, delayed to 11:00),
Tarawa (home at 15:00). Getting to use
the Qantas Club in Melbourne and Tabua Club in Nadi made the trip just that
little bit more comfortable, although no sleep was a little tough. I will have to work on that part and try to
avoid overnight flights.
What a sad two weeks it has been to hear of the
passing of three people we knew. The
happy memories we have of these people will stay with us. Our condolences go out to those three
families.
It was a whirlwind trip but it was worth
every minute. I loved seeing our girls
and catching up with family. It was like a booster for the next couple of
months.
When we finally arrived back at our house
in Tarawa, there was a short flurry of activity to get the bags unpacked and in
some sort of order before I trekked off to a Rotary meeting. Yes, I have joined Rotary! There a few projects that are in the pipe line
that I will inform you all about. The
most important one, is the Calendar for Kiribati Rotary. I know it may be a tall order to ask you to
purchase one but I will bring some home with me in December as long as I can
get you to pay into my account. It will
help fund projects like ”Days for Girls”, education for litter reduction, the special
needs school and the list goes on.
The link below is the address of the
project that I am very keen to have happen here
On another tack, Denise is looking into a volunteer
opportunity that has come up. Watch this
space.
So the week has flown past and I am
unwell with a cold. The car has been for
a service and I hadn’t got home before I had to go back as the car wasn’t
running properly. Now I have to carry my
sorry self-back tomorrow to get them to fix the idling. Makes me love my mechanic back in Oz even
more. Hi Baz and Julie.
Big Hugs and much love D
Now must go and enjoy what is left of our
weekend. We were supposed to be diving
yesterday, but that has been deferred for a week due to Denise’s cold.
