IDEALS Students Experience Basketball Zambian Style

On the first weekend of their stay in Zambia, IDEALS students Ella Hewton from Loughborough and Florence Glen from Durham University were invited to play for the Rim Oilers basketball team.

Both girls are valuable members of their respective University teams and have been sharing their expertise at their chosen placements since they arrived just over a week ago. Ella has been concentrating her efforts towards the Fountain of Hope which is a boy’s orphanage, central to Lusaka. She has been taking basketball, netball and football sessions. Flo has been taking basketball sessions and working with the Zambian Basketball Association, this is equivalent to a National Governing Body in the UK. She is also coaching teams in the youth league, which was set up by Mwape Konsolo who is the programme and development manager within the charity Sport in Action, which works closely with the IDEALS project. It was set up as a free league for young people, who could then feed into the ZBA.

After their first week of coaching both girls were invited to play as guests for the women’s basketball team, the Rim Oilers, who are a team within the ZBA. As they arrived at the centre both their excitement and nerves were increasing. Unsure what to expect the girls found their coach and changed into their new uniforms, hand made by their team mates. Once rivals, the girls now had to work together in their first African basketball experience.

Inside the hall there was an electric atmosphere with many young men and women turning out to watch the game. The opposition was to be the Green Buffalos, an army team who have a reputation for being a very strong squad. The talk around the hall was that the Oilers wouldn’t stand a chance…

I spoke to the girls before the match to find out how they were feeling…



It was a very physical game and was closely fought, right up to the last quarter. Unfortunately the girls finished behind at 59-65, however with only a 6 point difference it was a good achievement for a team that wasn’t expected to challenge their opponents. The girls will continue to play for the team during their remaining four weeks in Zambia and share their knowledge and experience across the local area. Both were great ambassadors for their Universities and the IDEALS project.