Despite her pint-sized nature, fast-rising basketball coach Rose Mshila is a perfect example of good things coming in small packages.
The 29-year-old Mshila is gradually changing the narrative and proving that sometimes basketball is not all about height, but through hard work and dedication, one can learn and succeed as a player or coach.
She has defied the conventional requirements in the sport to create a place for herself at the table of top coaches in the country and now has a very promising future.
Bred in Mombasa’s Miritini estate, Mshila, the last-born in a family of five, went out of the house every evening whenever she heard the sound of the ball hitting the ground.
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“The sound of the ball hitting the ground ignited my interest in basketball. I was fascinated to see the boys dribble, the ground was not even half the court but I could stay out late to just watch them and sometimes I got into trouble at home,” Mshila said.
She added that growing up, her parents put more emphasis on education though they wanted them to live a balanced life.
“My late father was an accountant and my mother a teacher and so they always wanted us to excel in academics and also be active for our own wellness.”
Her first encounter with a basketball coach was in 2010 while in Form Two at The Kenya High. It was at the school that she met coach Eleanor Musundi, a former Co-op Bank and Equity Bank player who she says helped her understand the value of sport.
“Musundi was my first basketball coach and meeting her was eye opening because she was a living example of the countless opportunities in sport and more so in basketball and helped to understand the value in sport,” Mshila said.
In 2012, as she was preparing for her final exams, tragedy struck and her mother suffered a stroke.
“I found solace in basketball; I played to distract myself from the troubles at home and it was a safe haven for me for it kept me going and that’s how I remained focused in class also,” she added.
Mshila joined Kenya University in 2013 to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Sciences, where she continued to play basketball for the university’s side KU Oryx. She would later join Eagle Wings after graduating.
She started volunteering while still at Kenyatta University after her friend started a Community-Based Organization (CBO) in Kayole to empower young children.
“I wanted to do something constructive with my time and so I volunteered at the Soweto Sports Initiative while still a student. I wanted to be part of the underprivileged children,” she added.
Her dedication to the good course led to a coaching career that began at Far East Basketball Association (FEBA) through the Deep Coaching Program. The program run by Inner Change Kenya ensured that coaches had the right values to empower players in marginalized communities in Nairobi.
As fate would have it, Mshila met Nairobi City Thunder coach Brad Ibs during the program who saw her potential and later offered her a paying coaching job at Rosslyn Academy, Nairobi towards the end of 2020.
“This is the first time I earned from basketball and when I told my father about it, he was shocked because though he had supported me, he doubted that I could make a living out of the sport.”
Mshila noted that her father’s ideal plan for her was to pursue her studies, graduate and get into full time employment which he believed would guarantee her financial stability and a secure future.
“My father wanted me to study and get full time employment and was very excited when I got my first job as an operations manager. When I resigned, he was disappointed because I did so to focus on basketball which was not paying me anything.”
In 2020, Mshila embarked on another journey with young boys in Kayole who were fresh from high school.
“I met these boys who were slightly younger than me and we started a journey together. I became their coach because we all wanted to explore and it felt right.”
The boys referred to themselves as Clique but being an ardent fan of the late NBA star Kobie Bryant, her association with the boys would lead to the birth of Men’s Division One side Clique Mamba.
“The idea was to expose the boys to organised sport. We played in the Street Inside Exposure League but it was not easy because we always had the underdogs mentality.”
There was no looking back for Mshila and Clique Mamba after they won the street league against top players in the country and set out their five-year plan.
She noted that it has been a tough journey because she had to do a lot of self-assessment because it required much more than just coaching the boys.
“It was not easy and felt like building a house while you are living in it because you don’t even know if you are safe. But looking back and also seeing some of the boys we started with, like James Marol and others who play for top clubs, I have no regrets whatsoever.”
In 2023, Mshila was offered a position at Twente Sports as the Skills and Development coach for Thunder.
“It was a moment of self-doubt because I didn’t see myself coaching at a higher level let alone a men’s top team. My job was to bring the best out of these players who had accomplished more than me and make sure that each player understands their role and performs very well,” Mshila said.
She intimated that Thunder head coach Ibs encouraged her to take the job.
“I revered players like Tylor Ongwae, he had excelled as a professional and also did well with the national team. I couldn’t imagine myself coaching him and others like Griffin Ligare, Albert Odera, Ariel Okal and even Derrick Ogechi who had grown up and played basketball in the US” she recalled with a grin on her face.
Contrary to her fears, Thunder players were welcoming, making it easy for her to execute her role well, which led to her being promoted to second assistant coach and now assistant coach to Ibs.
Mshila is the head coach of the girls’ Under-16 national team that is currently in Kigali, Rwanda for the Afrobasket championship.