How Thunder won maiden basketball title unbeaten

Kenya Basketball Federation men’s Premier League team, Nairobi City Thunder, rode on a stable financial base, and astute recruitment policy to win a maiden league title unbeaten, and at the expense of more experienced local teams.

On Saturday, Nairobi City Thunder beat Kenya Ports Authority 84-48  in Game Three of KBF men’s Premier League best-of-five series play-off final at Nyayo National Stadium to win the series 3-0.  

Thunder had won Game One 73-70, and Game Two 59-50 at KPA Makande Gymnasium in Mombasa last week. Equity Dumas defeated Blades 71-66 in the play-offs to finish third.

Founded as National Social Security Fund Trustees in the 1990s  by South Africa-trained coach Faustin Mgendi, the team changed names to International Christian Centre (ICC) after NSSF withdrew sponsorship.

In 2002, the cash-strapped team was relegated to the second-tier KBF men’s Division One League until 2004 when it returned to the top league. The team played as ICC till 2009 as a self-supporting team even after the sponsoring church pulled out.

Sponsorship

The same year, the team changed names to Nairobi City Thunder and continued playing in the top league with the support of NSSF employee Mghendi.

Mgendi is elated that long years of sacrifice have paid off after  Twende, a foundation that promotes the game of basketball,  came on board as sponsors  in July last year.

“We couldn’t win the league for many years  but after securing sponsorship that has enabled us to recruit the right players, we have finally realized our dream,” he said on Saturday after they were pronounced the league champions.

“We are grateful to our sponsors Twende Foundation which has transformed the team to finish unbeaten in the entire season.”

In July,  Thunder got sponsorship from Twende, and immediately recruited American coach Brad Ibs with the aim of qualifying for the prestigious Basketball African League.  

Thunder also recruited top players from Equity Dumas, KPA, USIU -Tigers, and Blades after securing sponsorship from Twende Foundation in July last year.

An elated Ibs said: “It has been a great basketball show, and we deserved to win the league because we had a strong team that put in a lot of effort. I also give credit to assistant coach Collins Gaya for his great contribution to the team.”

Ibs said that for the first time, a Kenyan club stands a good chance of doing  better in Basketball Africa League (BAL), now that Nairobi City Thunder has qualified to represent the country in the qualifying rounds.

The team’s captain Griffins Ligare, who emerged the Most Valuable Player, said: ”Team work, discipline and determination has enabled us to win the first crown as Nairobi City Thunder, having played in many semi-finals and the 2019 play-offs final in which  we lost 3-2 to Ulinzi Warriors at a time Thunder were leading the series 2-0.”

The 2023 season MVP Albert Odero from Thunder said: “We are very happy for the victory with a clean sheet because we had a strong team compared to our 12 opponents from the regular season.”

KPA won the inaugural league title in 1987 and again won it in 1990 and 1991, 2014, from 2016 to 2018, and in 2022.