Basketball in Africa

by Funmi Ogundare
Lagos

All is now set for the commencement of the 10th edition of the Nestle Milo Secondary schools' Basketball championship, an annual event targeted at youths in secondary schools nationwide.

The Category Business Manager, Beverages and Confectionery, Mr. Walter Okafor told newsmen in Lagos that the submission of entry forms, earlier collected from state Ministries of Education, Sports Councils and other approved channels, ends on February 14.

State preliminaries of the competition will run from February 15 to March 4, with no fewer than 3,000 schools competing nationwide. This would be followed by the conference finals where finalists from the state preliminaries would compete in six regions between June and July.

At the end of the conference finals, he said, "We will be left with 12 teams in the boys and girls category. The 12 teams will compete in the national finals, to produce the overall winner in the boys and girls categories. This will run through the 22nd to 27th of September, 2008."

Okafor said, in line with the organisation's culture of celebrating winning moments, the first placed teams in both boys and girls categories would be given a branded basketball court each. "This is unprecedented in the history of the competition. The court will be constructed in their schools. However, where any of the winning school(s) already has a basketball court, we shall undertake to brand and refurbish it to good standards. In the event where the two first placed teams are from the same school, only one court shall be given, and the other team will receive a handsome reward", he said.

The second and third placed teams in both categories will receive upward reviews in the prize money from the previous sums of N100, 000 and N75, 000 to N150, 000 and N100, 000 respectively.

The individual prizes include medals to each member of the three teams, trophies to the most valuable players, fair play trophy to the schools, trophy award to the best three-point shooter in both categories, as well as best in slam dunk.

Nestle's Managing Director and Chief Executive, Mr. Klaus Wachsmuth said the championship had become a veritable platform for promoting social interaction, teamwork, talent identification and nurturing among youths. "I would like to assure you that Nestle Milo would continue to support the development of sport in Nigeria because we believe that it is a very strong platform for unity, social interaction and good sportsmanship", he said.

National President of the Nigerian School Sport Federation (NSSF), Dr. Thomas Adeleke called on school sports officers, Principals and Parents Teachers Association (PTA), to register their schools for the championship. "Students should embrace sports for the development of the brain, brawn and enviable strength of character and see the opportunity provided by the organisation as an epitome of co-existence of sports, academics and excellence", he said.