Josephites Basketball Club A pioneer In the Arena of Basketball
Fazle Rabbi Khan
The late 50s and early 60s, a time when no child in this part of the world was ever supposed to get drawn into the strange game of basketball. It would be a surprise if theyd ever seen it being played. But the stars always seem to align for the inevitable, as they did so once more. It was soon after the first basketball court was built in the old Narinda campus of St. Joseph Higher Secondary School to get the kids interested in this new sport. Thus a basketball community was formed with the first batch of Josephites in 1962. And it was the inception of Josephites Basketball.
According to the current school coach and the national team player, Md. Tareq Aziz, sharing a common goal in the mind, Team Josephites have achieved glorious moments throughout the years with its participation in school level basketball tournaments. In particular of all the Josephites, Noushir Hasan was known as one of the greatest legends in the whole basketball community. He was a first-batch graduate student of the school in 1963, played for the East Pakistan Basketball team and was also a first-choice player of the Pakistan team before the Liberation War. His contribution and sheer passion for basketball is still considered legendary even to this day. He is recognized as an inspirational icon of Josephites Basketball. From 2013, St. Joseph Higher Secondary School started its first ever Inter-school basketball tournament to immortalize and commemorate his name, a tournament that has been entitled Noushir Hasan Inter-School Basketball Tournament.
In 2008, Josephites Basketball was officially formed to be recognized in the whole country in not only school or college level basketball but also in the upper level tournaments concerning no institutional issues. The founding members were Md. Tareq Aziz, Amit Joseph Costa, Joy Clive, Stalin Joseph and Sajid Ahmed. Since then Josephites Basketball have been dominating two or three underground and basketball fest championships every year. In the present players of Josephites Basketball community, two of them have contributed in the Bangladesh National Basketball team, two players in U-18, two in U-21 national team and five players were called in U-16 national team. About fifty of the players have contributed in 1st Division, Premier League, Underground tournaments and basketball fests. Josephites Basketball also clinched the title Champion of U-21 Basketball Tournament in 2010 and 2011. The school team has a total of 23 achievements throughout the decade. This year, Josephites school team became Champions in the National School Championship for the first time in 19 years. This year Josephites Basketball is organizing the first time ever underground basketball tournament titled Josephites Basketball Championship 2015. The tournament will kick-off on August 21, where 8 teams will participate.
A former Josephite and the national team player, Md. Tareq Aziz said, Josephites Basketball has become one of the exalted icons in basketball of this country. Even now they are outdoing themselves in hope to inspire people and perfect their position in the basketball history. Many young players have aspired through time in this community to bear the identity as Josephites in the game of basketball.
