Basketball-Robert Smith passes away |09 February 2009

American basketball technical adviser Smith left Seychelles for Germany on June 10, 2006, after having spent 12 years here.

He first came to Seychelles in 1994 and was actively involved in promoting basketball, working mostly with young players and played an important role in the Seychelles Basketball Federation’s (SBF) youth development programme. He was known for introducing ‘baby basketball’ in Seychelles.

In 1998, the SBF appointed Smith as technical adviser to the federation and he accompanied the women’s and men’s national teams to the Indian Ocean Islands Games (IOIG) in Reunion the same year.

Having received Seychellois citizenship, the former basketballer, whose career in the American National Basketball Association (NBA) was cut short by an injury, always rated Seychellois players highly but was not afraid to point out that “a lack of disciplined players is a major factor that’s working against high quality basketball here.”

In an interview with Seychelles Nation before he left the country, Smith said: “Compared to their Indian Ocean counterparts, Seychellois players have good morphological and physical condition for the game of basketball. This is a fact that influenced my stay here from the beginning.”

Smith was a social worker by profession after graduating in child sociology and psychology.

G. G.