NAN-S-6
Basketball
By Babatunde Ogunrinde
Lagos Dec. 16, 2016 (NAN) Gbade Olatona, the Coordinator, Youth Alive Basketball Championships, on Friday said the outgoing year was one in which resounding success in talents discovery gave hope of a bright future.
Olatona told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that with the achievement of the Junior League earlier in May he was proud of the progress made in the game.
“I think it has been a wonderful year; we are able to achieve our yearly junior league which brought in so many new teams and first times players.
“We were able to monitor the players’ progress and were astonished about the quickness of the players to grab the fundamentals of the game in the shortest time the learnt the game.
“While we ascribe the development of the players to their coaches, we can also be proud of the programmes we put together which made players express themselves.
“However, we are still not where we want the youths to be; we are confident of the pool of talents we have and can rely on them to produce quality players,’’ Olatona said.
Olatona added that Lagos State Basketball Association (LSBBA) and Lagos Sports Commission had been the backbone of the youth programmes success.
“We received tremendous support from LSBBA and the Sports Commission in the areas of finance, facilities and logistics of players and most importantly in the areas of officiating.
“Another aspect that brought more value to our objectives was the training clinics organised for the coaches, table officials and referees.
“This made the whole programme professional in outlook and all things being equal, we will continue to learn from what we have achieved and take the kids to new levels,’’ he said.
“We have also enjoyed the support from the parents of youths who allow their wards to believe in making a career in basketball because without their support, the players will not attend games regularly.
“The parents have equally played a wonderful role in allowing their children to turnout for training and the youth have shown commitment because they have the support of the family.
“They also adhere to rules and instructions and gradually this is transforming the youth to better individuals as they daily interact with their peers from different backgrounds,’’ he said. (NAN)
BAO/PDE
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(Editing by Peter Ejiofor)