Basketball in Africa

The annual Nestle Milo Basketball Clinic for Future Champions holding in the 13th edition has entered the last lap for the 2006 season with the Lagos edition. Over 700-kid basketballers began the daily drills yesterday in three centres spread across Lagos.

The National Stadium is serving as the main venue with the Syrian Club at Ribadu Road, Ikoyi and the First Bank Court at Satellite Town as the other centres. The event rounded off by the weekend in Enugu following the first one-week of the programme held in Kaduna.Nestle Milo officials expressed satisfaction with the level of performance of participants at the Enugu leg of the clinic, which ended at the weekend.

About 700 kids between the ages of 3 and 14 trooped daily to the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, venue of the weeklong clinic for training.

Speaking at the colourful closing ceremony, Banji Okubote, Group Brand Manager (Milo), who was represented by Segun Oloidi, Regional Sales Manager (South-East), said that the kids showed great potentials which if properly harnessed would put Nigeria in the top bracket of world basketball ranking.

"With the level of proficiency the kids have demonstrated here today, I feel more convinced that the future of basketball in Nigeria is very bright. Our goal is that in the nearest future, Nigeria should be in a comfortable position to produce en-masse the likes of Hakeem Olajuwon, Olumide Oyedeji, among others", he said.Master Emmanuel Ogbu, 14 and Miss Juliana Ali, 14, emerged as the Most Valuable Players in the boys and girls categories respectively, after the six-day training that took the kids through the basics of basketball.

Ali, an SS II student of the Annunciation Secondary School, Enugu said she hopes to play top-flight professional basketball in future. Similarly, Ogbu who is also an SS I student at the Nike Grammar School, Enugu thanked Milo for giving him and other kids the opportunity to bring out the talents in them by sponsoring the Clinic.

The closing ceremony witnessed free throws by the journalists, coaches, and parents. Interestingly, none of the journalists and coaches made any good throw. But some of the parents recorded good throws and were richly rewarded with Milo products for their efforts.