The Fiba Youth National Camp got underway on Monday, February 21 at the Africa Bible University in Lubowa.
The six-day camp runs until Saturday and is segmented into two, with the first being for youth coaches and later the players.
Coaches had their first session on Monday while the players’ sessions will run from Thursday until Saturday.
30 players (15 boys and as many girls) and 20 coaches will be part of the camp. The best 15 players will be selected for the Regional Camp and will be joined by the best performing coaches.
The camp is being run by Nour Amri, a FIBA Instructor, and Joe Touomou, the NBA Academy Technical Director and Fiba Expert.
The camp was launched earlier today and was presided over by Ambrose Tashobya, the President of Fiba Africa Youth Council and 3×3 Basketball alongside FUBA President Nasser Sserunjogi as well as NCS General Secretary Bernard Ogwel.
What they said
This program is intended to create a good base for youth development in Africa and this year, we are glad to partner with Key Instructors in the growth development of the game who will participate in the implementation of this program. We have two Instructors that have come in, one from FIBA and the other from the NBA. They will equipe the coaches and later on the kids with basic knowledge about the game
Ambrose Tashobya
As a country, we have a program to develop players at the age of U14 through our Technical Directorate. We work with them for two years and prepare them for the U16 [Tournaments] at Zone V and AfroBasket. We realised that they reach this level (Zone V and AfroBasket) when not well prepared so we need to have such Youth Camps to develope them when they are still young. We belive that such programs will go a long way to prepare us achieve [success at tournaments].
Nasser Sserunjogi
Basketball is one of the fastest-growing sports in Uganda and when we look at the recent success of our senior national teams, I think this is a very good move for our way forward. I salute FIBA Africa and Mr. Ambrose [Tashobya] for this very great initiative. NCS will embrace this program and work very closely with FUBA to ensure that it is successful. We know the needs of the sport and I will try my best to ensure that Basketball gets what it wants.
Bernerd Ogwel
I am very happy to be here to contribute to the player development pathway of this country. It is all about building the future players of Uganda. The aim of the camp is equipping coaches with some tools and knowledge in order to make the right choices regarding talent identification and selection. It is also aimed at making them understand how sports talent is developed and maintained and that is why we have two sections of the camp.
Nour Amri
This is the first time I come to Uganda. Basketball needs people who are willing to provide for it. It is a sport that is growing and needs people who are willing to push it to the highest level. This is an important step in Basketball in Uganda and that is why FIBA and FUBA put this together to ensure we bring all we have and share it with the coaches and kids.
Joe Touomou
