Butere Girls’ basketball coach Chris Odeke will strive for a podium finish at the East African School Games on August 17-27 in Uganda.
Odeke helped Butere to their national title defence at the Term One games in Machakos a week ago.
The Mumias-based school beat Nairobi region champions Buruburu Girls' 49-43 in a tightly-contested final.
Odeke tips this year's team to surpass last year's performances, when they crashed out in the group stage on debut.
“We are alive to the kind of competition we will meet at the East African games. I believe we will do better than last year. We are going for a podium finish,” Odeke quipped.
At last year’s games played in Huye, Rwanda, Butere were placed in Pool ‘B’ alongside compatriots Our Lady of Mercy., Orkeeswa Secondary of Tanzania, GS Marie Reine Rwaza of Rwanda and St Mary’s Kitende from Uganda.
Butere lost 90-47 to St Mary’s in the opener, 83-70 loss to Our Lady of Mercy, 77-73 to Orkeeswa and 95-71 to GS Marie.
St Mary’s won the title after beating GS Marie 55-47.
However, Odeke believes the team is up to the task after learning from last year's mistakes.
“We did not perform as expected last year. We were there for benchmarking. I believe we have gained enough experience to cause a storm at this year’s edition,” he noted.
Identifying Ugandan teams as formidable adversaries, Odeke adds: "The level of competition at the East African stage is high. We must play at our highest level. Ugandan teams are our biggest threat.”
Odeke sees their national triumph as a springboard for success at the regional tournament.
“We were alive to the challenge at the nationals. That helped us clinch the title,” he stated.
He hopes to work on defence and attack.
“We want to refine some of our areas, especially defence. We are also looking to improve our forward line,” he added.
