The inaugural edition of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF Kwese Prospect Camp which was concluded in Kaduna at the weekend with 65 players from across the country participating has been declared a huge success.
The Kwese Premier League Director, Mr Ajibarede Bello, said the intensive three-day exercise achieved its aims of identifying future prospects players for the Kwese Premier League and the national teams.
“The camp which is a developmental process has been a huge success. The players discovered would be monitored and built into future stars,”Mr Bello said, adding that,“Coaches were invited to watch and select players that they could recruit into their teams.”
At the end of the camp, five players were selected as the best and presented plaques for their skill. They are Ebuka Ifeanyi, Lawson Ominini, Odufuwa Kanyisola, Musa Yusuf and Richard Daniel who national team coach, Scott Nnaji said coaches would “build up and know what will help them move forward and also introduce new things that will help them get it right.”
Coach Nnaji added that “We are going to train them to so that we can have players in every part of the country.,” to buttress Mr Bello’s statement that “We are going to make it a regular basis and will be going to different venues across the country to hold it.”
Coach Mike Akuboh, one of the instructors at the camp expressed joy at the quality of players who took part in the exercise, explaining that by taking them through the rudiments of the game and preparing them psychologically, the youngsters may just be on their way to becoming world stars that will be reckoned with.
“I am impressed by the quality of players at this camp. I am particularly impressed by one of them by name Ade who is already exhibiting traits of a big winner. He will in no distant time, rule the world of basketball,” he added.
One of the Top 5 players, Ebuka Ifeanyi from Lagos expressed optimism that he will do better in the game to be recruited to play in the league.
“I want to get better in the game both body wise and mentally and see myself play in the Kwese League,” he opined.
The camp tagged, ‘Kwese Prospect Camp’, is a youth development initiative of the Tijjani Umar-led NBBF and is targeted at grassroots basketball players 19-year old and below.
