The two-day Basketball Africa League (BAL) training for youth athletes on Saturday powered the dreams of some talented grassroots players in Lagos.
Tagged, ‘BAL4HER x QOTC Camp’ the training organised in partnership with Queens of the Continent Foundation, was designed to empower young female athletes with
elite-level basketball training from top-tier coaches and professional athletes.
The camping, which ia expected to conclude today also provided mentorship and life-skills workshops aimed at fostering leadership, confidence, and personal growth on and off the court for the girls.
The camp also underscored BAL’s commitment to gender inclusion in sports, grassroots talent development, by creating pathways for the next generation of female basketball leaders in Africa.
“Because the people who are there now, they’re going to retire. We need fresh blood, we need young blood.
“I’ve always been passionate about sports, football, soccer, basketball, cricket. What I’m trying to do is use my platform to be able to spotlight and showcase amazing talent,” Chiney Ogwumike, BAL ambassador and founder, Queens of the Continent Foundation, said.
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According to her, Nigeria needs to build more structure, leveraging on D’Tigress recent success stories on the continent. “But we need to structure the pace,” Ogwumike said.
Abdulrahman Mohammed, head coach, Nigerian Men’s National Basketball Team, said the clinic will make the girls better. According to him, BAL4HER offer will hell the girls improve on their games.
He said that repetition makes players better, hence the need to continually expose the girls to further trainings and that it doesn’t really matter how good they look at the moment.
“I’m already in the business of mentoring female players. Anything I can do to make a player better, I’m up for it. Don’t forget, I coach a custom female team,” he said.
Chidiogo Mbama, one of the basketballers, said she’s grateful for meeting Chiney and other members of her team.
“I have to go pro, and I have a dream, because a lot of people look down on me because of my height.
“Every time I say I play basketball, they’re like; with this height, can you even reach the rim? Forgetting that I don’t have to dunk to be a good player,” Mbama said.
The 20 selected U23 players were exposed to top technics and given the opportunity to showcase their basketball talents in the two-day camping program.
The two-day camping program concluded with valuable discussions on pathways and next steps for each player after the on-court camp.
Following the camp, 32 local coaches participated in a BAL Advance Coaches Clinic led by Mohammed, which created an opportunity for engagement on how to further develop their skill sets.
