No courts, great talent and a former Palestine coach, how South Sudan aims for basketball glory

There are times sport brings unity when nothing else can.

Basketball coach Jerry Steele saw it happen when he led the Palestine national team, now he hopes to see it again as the coach of South Sudan.

Steele is a past college and high school coach who lives in Phoenix, Arizona, where he works as a lawyer and where he and his family have worked for almost 40 years with community groups.

This is what led to him being offered the Palestine job, in which he led the building of the team which eventually finished 10th in the 2015 FIBA Asian championships.

Then earlier this year South Sudan emailed him to request his services, which he volunteers.

It's often said that, outside the fledgling nation's number one export, oil, their next biggest asset is their athletes.

But decades of civil war have seen many families leave for new homes around Africa and the world, including Australia where young basketball stars are already rising.

Thon Maker is an Australian NBA player with the Milwaukee Bucks, Melbourne United centre Majok Majok is at camp with the Australian Boomers and numerous young talents like Louisville's Deng Adel are flourishing in US college basketball.

NBA star Luol Deng is the biggest name to arise^[1] from South Sudan and he has become a role model for many around the world.

Steele visited the South Sudanese Australian National Basketball Association Classic in Werribee this month with the purpose of meeting eligible players.

"When I can get to the players, I find they have a heart for it and are willing to make that sacrifice because of what it will mean to them and their people," Steele said.

"When I get the stiff-arm from handlers that don't understand, then it's hard, but when I speak to them it's positive."

Players are not the biggest issue. That is a lack of organisation and facilities.

"If you are trying to provide utilities and food and water for your people then basketball will be a little down the ladder," Steele said.

Communication issues almost forced them South Sudan to miss out on qualifiers for the African championships, known as Afrobasket.

Initially South Sudan thought their qualifying tournament was in May, but in late January they realised it was in March, which forced several overseas stars to miss out.

"The amazing thing was we saw it through and participated in this tournament in Cairo," Steele said.

Australian guard Mathiang Muo was among those who played for South Sudan, who beat Kenya but lost to Egypt and Rwanda so missed out on qualifying for Afrobasket, where a top-five finish would have seen them make the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China.

"In our initial game, against hosts Egypt, the place was full of South Sudanese. It was an incredible time to see those people coming together and singing the national anthem together," Steele said.

"The South Sudanese ambassador said he has been working for years just to get the people to talk because of their divisive positions in South Sudan, and he said he could never do anything like what happened when they bring in a basketball team.

"All of a sudden they were one country again."

Qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics without making the world cup is incredibly difficult, but qualifiers begin in November.

With no indoor stadium, they can't play at home, so they are looking to play in neighbouring Uganda or Kenya.

Finding the funds to fly in and take care of their players adds to the difficulty, so fundraising and sponsorship are now vital.

"There is a confidence in that I can see it is doable, and that's after having worked with the Palestinians, so maybe I have some further sight on this than others might," Steele said.

"There are tremendous hurdles, but I am counting on the young men who can step up and say, 'I am willing to be a part of that.'"

If South Sudan can make the court in November and keep winning games they will be in with a chance.

Steele knows if South Sudan can get a "flagship" men's team to have success, they can move on to building up their women's and under-20 programs.

"We didn't get the start we needed in the preliminaries, so we are now behind the eight-ball," Steele said.

"But my hope is that we will make enough noise that we can find sponsors and find the money so that next time around we will definitely be a contender.

"I was told by the FIBA Africa people that if we were able to round up our players we will be able to dominate in Africa within a few years.

"So that's not just me thinking this."

References

1. ^{^} NBA star Luol Deng is the biggest name to arise (www.smh.com.au)