NBBF Urges Players To Utilise Camping Opportunity

The Nigeria Basketball
Federation (NBBF) at the weekend in Abuja advised players in the 2015 NBBF Prospect Camp to utilise the opportunity given to them by putting in their best efforts.
NBBF President, Tijani Umar who gave the advice at the opening ceremony of the camp, said it was a privilege for the players to get such opportunity among their peers.
Umar, who was represented by a member of the federation’s board, Patrick Omorodion, said the players should exhibit a combination of patience, commitment and humility.
“It is a privilege for you to be part of this programme out of the numerous players we have across the country. So, you must use the opportunity well.
“And, to come out successful in this camp, you have to exhibit patience, commitment, and humility so that the best can be gotten from you,’’ he said.
Speaking on the essence of the camp, one of the coaches, Michael Akuboh, said they wanted to identify young players for the federation’s age-grade national teams.
“The essence of the NBBF Prospect Camp 2015 is to identify young players for our age-group national teams within the under-18 category.
“A few of them are still eligible for the under-16, but the majority we have here are for the under-18 national team.
“And the actual intention is to identify those that are very good and continue to monitor them. We will give them programmes they will take back home and work on,’’ Akuboh said.
He added that they were still running other programmes which could still help to further groom the identified players.
“We will be monitoring them from time to time because we are running other programmes other than this around the country, where we hope to invite them to as time goes on.
“We need to know how well they are progressing and we will keep a database of the players so that if the national under-18 team needs players, this pool will be picked from,’’ Akuboh said.

L-R: Ivory Coast skipper, Yaya Toure, CAFPresident, Issa Hayatou, Equatorial Guinea President and FIFA President during the trophy presentation ceremony of the 2015 AFCON last Sunday