User:MrVingtDeux/sandbox

1) History

Menaced Melvins Basketball Club was founded in 2022 by Thabile Gabriel Jonathan Sempe after he completed his International Baccalaureate in Jerusalem, Israel; a place he called home for approximately 4 years before relocating to the University of Johannesburg to embark on his journey of completing a Bachelors of Commerce in Information Systems sprung by his passion for business development and technology. Menaced Melvins was established alongside travel startup and stakeholder of the club, Authentic Botswana Tours, where he briefly worked as assistant marketing director and contributed towards the development of the company’s financial structure.

The club’s founder had his first proper taste of basketball during the 8th grade in 2016 where he lived in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and has always had a liking for the sport, playing several positions such as power forward, small forward, and centre/post player. He recalls being about 4’6 playing against people twice his size and weight but never gave it the thought of day as he was really just having a great time. Always on the right flank, his dribbling and shooting skills were always amateur but for some reason was able to score many buckets making his teammates rely on him to shoot three-pointers either from a 45 or 0 degree angle. In 2019, he would briefly join the school basketball team in Jerusalem and played against people from all walks of life, some of whom were really good and invested in the sport which made learning the sport from different aspects easier. Most importantly, he saw how basketball connected people and cultures which became the primary objective of Menaced Melvins alongside cultivating and growing pure talent into skill.

When asked where he sought inspiration for the clubs name, Thabile referred to his all time favourite Florida rapper at one point growing up, YNW Melly (Jamell Maurice Demons), who is known to often take a harsh yet swift approach in the production of his music; an epitomical approach that the clubs founder envisioned the club would portray both on and off the court. “I want my players to be menaces, to carry an aura of conquest while simultaneously being vigilant in their playing strategy on the court, a team that is imposing and is out to make a statement in Botswana’s basketball society, and more importantly a team which can lead and bring attention to the undermined sport”.

From an early age, the club's founder has always believed that with adequate allocation of state funds towards training programmes, heavy investment in training facilities, and proper marketing, the local basketball industry can be hugely transformed into a bread basket which could potentially shape the country’s sports culture and substantially expand Botswana´s net exports value through the provision of tertiary products to the global market which will in turn improve social welfare. Basketball needs to be viewed as an economic and social empowerment tool in this day and age; it’s a young baller's world.