NAN-S-87
Basketball
By Dorcas Jonah
Abuja, April 20, 2017 (NAN) Bola Orodele, the Secretary-General, Nigerian University Games Association (NUGA), on Thursday, called on clubs and sports stakeholders to earnestly scout for players.
Orodele, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, said some of the basketball players in most teams in Nigeria lacked the required height for the game.
According to him, the only way that Nigeria can excel at international competitions is if competent athletes represent the country.
Orodele said that scouting for players was important to sustain the growth of the game, adding that Nigeria was lacking in this area.
“I believe that the clubs should do more. The national sports federations are the apex in Nigeria. It is what the clubs and schools do that is replicated in our national teams.
“The clubs have a way of going round to get players to represent them, so they should put in more efforts to get good players.
“In the match I watched in the just concluded Zenith Basketball league, I did not see any player among the girls, who can play forward.
“To be a forward player, you must have a particular height to be able to rebound the ball, but I did not see that.
“We will need competent players for us to be able to compete and excel during international meets; something is still lacking in the teams that I saw; the height of the players is not good enough.
“If they are, may be 13 or 14 years old, I will say they are likely to grow over time; but these ones are almost adults. If you are already 20 or 21 years old as a lady, you are not likely going to grow anymore.
“We need to groom athletes at the grassroots to become our national players.
“These days in basketball, you need some height; we should start looking for forward players, who will be nothing less than six feet tall for female and 6.8 to 6.9 feet tall for male,” he said.
Orodele said that clubs needed to train the right people, who would feed the national teams, and ensure that the training given to the current crop of players would not be a waste.
He urged clubs to go to different schools to scout for players, who had the required height for the game. (NAN)
DE/HAS/YEMI
Edited By Hajia Sani