Shirikisho la Mpira wa Kikapu Zanzibar
Ages 6–12

Kids Innovation Academy

Akademia ya Ubunifu ya Watoto. Basketball plus ideas. The court is where a child learns to dribble, to count, to lead a small group, and to be expected back next week.

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What the child actually does

First Touch, ages 6–8

Ball mastery, tag games, left hand and right hand, how to stop, how to share a ball. Swahili games the grandparent already knows, given a basketball shape. Twenty minutes of play before any ‘drill’ that feels like school punishment.

Court Lab, ages 9–12

Spacing, a simple give-and-go, and a paper scoresheet the children keep themselves. They add their own made shots. The point is honesty with numbers, not a leaderboard that humiliates.

Character Court

On time, by name, no mocking, the referee is a person. One conversation a month with a story from the islands, not a lecture imported from a poster.

Island Innovators

One project a term, chosen by the group: design a safer baseline, a hydration plan for a hot month, a poster that invites girls, or a way to mark a court with local materials. The project is shown to parents. It is not marked out of ten.

The week

Two sessions of 75 minutes. One is skills and games. One is Court Lab or the term project. A third optional Saturday is play only — no new teaching — so a child who missed a weekday can still be seen.

Ratio: one lead coach and one assistant for every twelve children. The assistant can be a Rising Hoops player doing a supervised apprenticeship. That is how the next coach is born.

  • Stone Town hub — Amani Sports Complex
  • Nungwi hub — community court, North Unguja
  • Makunduchi hub — South Unguja
  • Chake Chake hub — Maele Indoor Court
  • Wete hub — North Pemba
  • Mkoani hub — South Pemba
  • 2026 opens Stone Town and Chake Chake. 2027 opens the rest. Do not print all six as ‘open now’ until they are.

Who can join, and what it costs

Any child aged 6 to 12 who can reach a hub. The Academy is free. Families are asked for a phone number and a medical note if the child has asthma, a heart condition, or anything the coach must not guess.

A scholarship bridge, not a cut-throat trial, moves children who are ready into Rising Hoops at 13. Readiness is skill, attendance and how they treat others. It is not height, and it is not a parent’s job.