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Leonard Ncube, Online Reporter

VICTORIA Falls Panthers Basketball Club is dreaming big this year with plans to participate in every tournament in the country as part of the team’s vision of becoming a professional club.

Formed five years ago by the duo of Brighton Musaidzi who is the club manager and Cleopas Chitura Sasha who is the coach, the club has had its share of challenges, especially securing sponsorship.

The duo has been financing the team’s trips to games from their own pockets and now wants to set up a board that will help professionalize the club and secure sponsorship among other goals.

Musaidzi said the target is to get fully professional in two years.

“We are the most active club in Victoria Falls and Matabeleland North having started five years ago after seeing that there was a budding basketball-playing culture and we decided to bring that together.

“We named the club Panthers because there was a club with that name in the 90s and early 2000s so we decided to revive it. There is so much talent in Victoria Falls but there was no organized team. We needed to have a team that competed in the provincial league and other tournaments so we had to set up a club,” said Musaidzi.

He said the club joined the Southern Basketball League on its return after the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown.

The Southern Basketball League comprises teams from Matabeleland South, Midlands, Masvingo, Bulawayo, and Matabeleland North.

Last year, the club played in the league in Bulawayo and traveled to Masvingo and Gweru.

It also hosted the league games in Victoria Falls while the club has also hosted the Victoria Falls Invitational Tournament pitting clubs from across the country in an effort to keep the team busy and players competitive.

Victoria Falls Panthers has a big pool of 40 male players, the oldest being 25 years old, and 13 females.

“We have done pretty well and that’s a big thing because coming from a community basketball situation and going semi-professional. We want to be semi-professional by the end of the year and fully professionalize in two years,” added Musaidzi.

Sasha said the club’s goal is to nurture talent in the resort city and send players to professional leagues in South Africa and the United States.

Already three players, Isaac Sibanda, Emmanuel Khumalo, and Mthulisi Moyo were recently invited for trials with the national basketball team.

“We do have enough pool of players most of whom are still in school and our vision is to grow bigger. Our players also need to grow and we want to see them breaking into big leagues,” he said.

Musaidzi and Sasha have been financing the team’s expenses like fulfilling matches from their pockets. Some few companies and individuals have also been chipping in here and there.

The club is working on setting up a board that will professionally run it, seek sponsors, secure a permanent venue for training and turn into an income generating organisation. Currently the club uses Chamabondo Primary School courts. -@ncubeleon