Rwanda ready for all-girls regional Youth Camp
Kigali, a city that has become synonymous with African basketball in recent years due to massive infrastructural investment, is set to host 45 girls from 15 countries.
ABIDJAN (Cote d'Ivoire) - FIBA Africa, in efforts to continue their development initiative in the continent, will host an all-girls Regional Youth Camp (U16) in Kigali, Rwanda from 26 to 28 September.
Following similar successful events in 2021 and 2022, the continental governing body has organised separate camps for boys and girls, the former holding their event from 20 to 22 September in Bamako, Mali.
Kigali, a city that has become synonymous with African basketball in recent years due to massive infrastructural investment, is set to host 45 girls from 15 countries.
These young girls will have 15 coaches who will use their expertise to advance FIBA Africa's mission of identifying and developing the best young African basketball players; working on the technical aspects of the sport.
The camp will also focus on the youngsters' leadership abilities as organisers look to prepare the youth to become great players in the continent and beyond while leaving a positive impact on the environment.
In the inaugural edition of the Youth Camps, 35 countries were invited with 45 girls and 90 boys participating in the three camps held in Nairobi, Kenya, Saly, Senegal and Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire.
The second edition assumed a similar format as the first, where the boys' and girls' camps ran concurrently in one venue. 60 players per gender were involved from 35 invited countries. The Youth players gathered in Tana, Madagascar, Saly, Senegal and Casablanca, Morocco.
In the two editions held so far, 80% of African countries (43 invited ) have been involved by sending players and/or coaches to the camps. Over 100 players per gender have benefitted.
Some of the success stories from the last two camps include Egypt's Salma Khedr who attended the FIBA Africa Youth Camp in 2022 and represented Egypt at the FIBA U17 Women's Basketball World Cup in Hungary the same year.
She went on to feature for the country in the FIBA U19 Women's Basketball World Cup in Spain this year.
Malian Samake Fatoumata who, like Khedr, was in Hungary for the U17 Women's Basketball World Cup, a year after lifting the U16 African Championship title as Mali won their seventh in a row, and was also in Spain for the U19 event, is a 2022 alumnus.
FIBA