Basketball in Africa

The maiden edition of the Big Man Camp of Africa to be staged in Abuja will begin today, with nearly 100 participants, including players and coaches in attendance.

The annual basketball programme, which has remained in Lagos since its inception in the country is also making inroads into other Nigerian cities, in its efforts to expand and discover hidden talents from all nooks and crannies of the country.

The Big Man Camp of Africa, which is in its fifth edition this year is being organised by RadarHoops of Nigeria and supported by the Nigeria Premier Basketball Foundations, headed by Tijani Umar.

According to Masai Ujiri Assistant General Manager of Toronto Raptors, The Giant of Africa is essentially for young basketball players between the heights of 6ft 8inch or 7 feet and above and will involve 60 players before the start of the basketball event.

He added that the over 60 youngsters selected from across the country are billed to arrive Abuja on the 21st for screening by a committee of top coaches in the game.
The players would have career guidance sessions with a counselor, who would also be taken through a talk session on character building by experts.
50 local coaches are also expected to be retrained by the consortium of top coaches from the United States, headed by an African scout of Detroit Pistons, Myke Scholls.

The closing outstanding players are to be honoured with awards and selected to attend Basketball Without Borders programme, organised by the NBA and FIBA in South Africa.

by fiba.com