A former professional
basketball player, Tamika Raymond has  in Abuja said Nigeria has the potential to be among the world’s leading countries in the basketball sport.

Raymond said this at the opening of a four-day basketball clinic organised by Open Mic Forum, a sports and entertainment consultant, in collaboration with the United States Embassy, Abuja.

The former Connecticut Sun player said the basketball game would however thrive in Nigeria only if adequate facilities and other necessities were provided to teach the young ones the sport’s rudiments.

“Building nice infrastructure and having nice indoor courts, as well as getting adequate funding, will go a long way in changing the face of the game in Nigeria,’’ Raymond who played in the Women National Basketball Association (WNBA) said.

The former Tamika Williams, who married a former basketballer, Ben Raymond, said the clinic’s aim was to impart the game’s rudiments on Nigerian kids.

“Nigerian kids are in their hundreds in the U.S playing basketball. Nigerians and Senegalese have the highest representation in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and WNBA.

“But Nigeria has the brightest kids I have ever coached. They are naturally athletic and talented. They are also well built for the game.

“But sometimes the fundamentals are lacking. They can jump, run and catch, but they don’t have the form to shoot and defend.

“These are the things we have come to teach these kids,’’ the former player said.

Detlef Schrempf, one of the instructors and the first German in the NBA, also told newsmen that the enthusiasm of Nigerian youths to embrace the sport was encouraging.

“I am excited to be here. We have some young talents here, but we can’t create a perfect player in few days. We want to create a basis for them to learn some fundamentals of basketball.

“This is not about playing professional basketball. This is about learning some stuff about sports, working together and learning how things work as a team.

“We are not here to make NBA basketball players. Obviously, I was fortunate enough to get to that point, but that is not what this camp is about.

“It’s about sharing knowledge, bringing guys together, communicating and building relationships,’’ Schrempf said.

Mohammed Suleiman, Co-ordinator of Open Mic Forum, said they were more concerned about getting the kids to avoid roaming the streets so that they can be useful in life.

Suleiman said their main target was to use sports and entertainment to reach out to the kids who do not know how to talk into the microphone.

“We are committed to creating speakers and talents out of people. We are also improving the talents in people.

“As simple as it looks, a lot of people tend to stammer when speaking through the microphone.

“But when you pick up young kids, you find them sharp and bold on the microphone. They can express themselves.

“We are developing people who are definitely the leaders of tomorrow. They have to take charge of that leadership from now.

“If you know how to talk to people, you will lead people if you don’t know how to talk to people, you will be in the background,’’ he said.

About 300 students from 15 schools in the FCT are participating in the four-day programme.