…Canvass for grassroots talent hunt in Benue
The Amateur Basketball Academies (ABA), in collaboration with the Benue State Basketball Association, has organized a one-day clinic for coaches and veterans in Benue State.
The clinic was held on Thursday at the conference hall of Royal Choice Inn, Makurdi, under the leadership of the President of Amateur Basketball Academies, Deputy Controller of Customs Aliyu Abubakar, who appealed to stakeholders to work as a team and to imbibe the spirit of unity in the state and the country at large.
DCC Abubakar described Benue State as the bedrock of basketball talent in Nigeria and globally. He said the state is blessed with professionals and has produced some of Nigeria’s finest basketballers known for athleticism, strength, speed, and resilience. He added that Benue remains a strategic partner and stakeholder in the game of basketball in the country.
He emphasized that ABA is in the state and other parts of the country to create awareness, revamp the game of basketball, and establish unity and teamwork among coaches, veterans, and stakeholders in order to achieve a common goal.
DCC Abubakar revealed that one of the greatest challenges facing basketball in the country is not the lack of talent but the lack of unity among stakeholders and their inability to work together due to personal interests. He noted that this has created a wide gulf of differences in opinion, division, and has turned healthy competition into unhealthy rivalry. “Where factions emerge, partnership can never flourish,” he stated.
The President of ABA noted that when administrators fight, athletes suffer. When leaders compete against themselves instead of working together, development in the game of basketball comes to a standstill. He said this makes talented children, the very reason the academies exist lose opportunities that may never return again. He therefore appealed for unity and teamwork among stakeholders in the state.
“Faction has never produced a champion and no conflict has ever developed a player, but unity can always produce sustainable success.” He therefore appealed to coaches and veterans to pursue one vision, one mission, and one team. He said the clinic is beyond technical instructions; it is rather a platform for reconciliation, rebuilding trust, sharing knowledge, and creating one basketball family.
DCC Abubakar also revealed that ABA was established on the conviction that Nigeria possesses extraordinary talents waiting to be discovered, nurtured, and harvested, which is the vision of the academy. He appealed to coaches not to see their fellow coaches as rivals but as partners in the game of basketball.
On the technical side of the game, Abubakar stated that basketball evolves every year as rules, strategies, technology, and sports science change. He emphasized that any coach who stops learning has also stopped developing talent. He urged participants to open their minds to learning and to bury their differences by replacing suspicion with trust, rivalry with partnership, and division with collaboration.
He expressed gratitude to His Excellency, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, for sustaining basketball in the state and for granting ABA the opportunity to organize the clinic. He reaffirmed ABA’s commitment to collaborate with the Benue State Government to develop a robust basketball program.
In his remarks, internationally recognized former national team player and coach, Emmanuel Odah, who hails from Benue State, re-emphasized that ABA is currently going round the country to resuscitate grassroots basketball, which has suffered neglect over the years. He appealed to coaches never to be discouraged but to support each other and ensure unity, which he described as the key to success not just in basketball but in every aspect of human engagement.
He stressed that he is being celebrated today as an icon of basketball, and that this was made possible through unity. He urged coaches in the state to come together and form a united front in order to raise the bar of basketball in the state higher than in its founding years.
According to him: “This is the reason ABA has come to Benue State and is going round the country to resuscitate grassroots basketball, as well as to ensure unity among coaches, veterans, and stakeholders.”
He expressed gratitude to the Benue State Government for sustaining basketball in the state and promised to continue to collaborate with the state. He noted that his success started in Benue and has now reached the peak, making him a star today.
Those who spoke with Voice Sports on the sidelines of the clinic include former Nigeria Basketball Team player and coach, John Apir, and Coach Lilian Ule of Vaatia College Basketball Team. They all pledged their commitment to the unity and progress of basketball in the state by catching young talents from the grassroots for national and global visibility, as well as scholarships accompanied with maximum financial rewards.
