Young players to gather in Bamako for FIBA Africa Youth Camp
The capital city of Mali, Bamako, will hustle and bustle with activity as it welcomes the first of the two FIBA Africa Youth Camps of 2023 on September 20-22.
BAMAKO (Mali) – The capital city of Mali, Bamako, will hustle and bustle with activity as it welcomes the first of the two FIBA Africa Youth Camps of 2023 on September 20-22.
An important part of FIBA Africa’s development strategy, this training camp aims at preparing the players for the rigours of competition.
Some 55 players, coming from more than 30 countries, will congregate in the Salle feue Salamatou Maiga where they will meet with 15 coaches during the three-day camp.
FIBA Africa has collaborated with some of the most notable African basketball names to ensure this event’s success.
FIBA instructors Cheick Sarr Nour Amri and Joe Touomou will feature along Camp Director Naoufal Al Uariachi and NBA Academy coach Alfred Aboya in Bamako for the coming days.
The Bamako camp will be a boys-only event. An all-girls camp, this time featuring 15 female coaches, will be held on September 26-28 in Kigali, Rwanda.
Skill development, personal development and leadership skills will occupy a big part of the campers’ days at the arena.
On the final day, an All-Star Game will see the best players battle each other before the closing ceremony brings an end to the camp.
The FIBA Africa Youth Camp is FIBA Africa’s flagship event for training and development. Since its inception in 2021, the Youth Camp has reached 80% of the African countries, impacting on 43 nations.
Globally, 90 girls and 150 boys have participated in the different Youth Camps.
The FIBA Africa Youth Camp has been implemented as an elite program to identify and harness the best young African basketball players, who are coached by a set of experts delivering advice on the technical aspects of the game.
Renowned basketball figures such as Astou N'Diaye, NBA Africa Ambassador; Christelle Ngarsanet, former Ivorian national team player, Robert Pack, who played in the NBA for 13 seasons before becoming the Rwanda Energy Group (REG) head coach for the BAL season 2 and NBA legend Olumide Oyedeji are part of the line-up of instructors for the different workshops.
These workshops also aim to give young people the tools to fuel change using basketball as a medium, as well as giving them tools for their personal development and instilling leadership values in the young players.
Since its launch in 2021, a number of players have made a name for themselves. Among them, Egypt’s Salma Khedr and Saifaddin Hendawy, Madagascar’s Andri Lovasoa and Mali’s Fatoumata Samake.
FIBA