Meet Mbatian

From Tanzania to the World

"As most people know my name is Mbatian Sikar. I study at Braeburn International School Arusha and I am also privileged enough to have represented my country, Tanzania, in the National U19 Basketball Team.

I was recently selected to participate in a FIBA/NBA camp called 'Basketball without Borders'. The camp is a premier opportunity for elite players to learn the game from world-class players and coaches, and to compete against the top talents in the world. This year the camp was in Cairo, Egypt. I was the only boy selected from Tanzania during my time in the FIBA qualifying stage in Uganda due to my "impressive performance and excellent leadership that I showed during the competitions”. I left for Egypt on the 26thAugust and was prepared and excited for the experience, ready to learn and have fun while doing so. It was a four-day camp whereby I had to showcase my skills, capability and how good of a player I am to the elite coaches and players. And to be honest with you, it wasn't easy. But it was one incredible experience!" 

"The first day was definitely scary, mainly because I'm not used to having cameras following me around, which pushed me out of my comfort zone, and seeing that my competition is much bigger than I really did intimidate me. But the fact that I was able to compete against them and give them a challenge even whilst being one of the smallest there kept me motivated to do better every single day of that camp. Size was definitely not an obstacle I couldn’t overcome."

"One of the biggest challenges I faced during the camp was playing with an injury. I had injured my left knee a week before the camp and I wasn't sure if I was going to play to my full potential. I was struggling during the training I had before the camp, trying to dunk, trying to touch the rim or even slapping the backboard. I couldn't do any of these things. I was not able to jump at all. I feared that I would be useless there. But every day that I was there I reminded myself that I was selected for a reason and that pushed me to fight through the pain because, once I master that, I would never lose. It became a morning affirmation, giving me reason to do better.

Overall the camp was life changing, such a great experience and I'm thankful to my family, coaches and friends that supported me through the whole journey."

Congratulations, Mbatian! We are all so proud of you!