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Nigeria urged to scout for basketball players

Xinhua, April 20, 2017 Adjust font size:

The Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) have been urged to scout for player to sustain the growth of the game in the country.

Bola Orodele, the Secretary-General, Nigerian University Games Association (NUGA), who made the call in Abuja on Thursday, said some of the basketball players in most teams in Nigeria lacked the required height for the game.

Orodele told reporters that the only way that Nigeria can excel at international competitions is to have competent athletes to represent the country.

He said scouting for players was important to sustain the growth of the game, adding that Nigeria was lacking in this area.

"We will need competent players for us to be able to compete and excel during international meets; something is still lacking in the teams that I saw; the height of the players is not good enough," he added.

"If they are, may be 13 or 14 years old, I will say they are likely to grow over time; but these ones are almost adults. If you are already 20 or 21 years old as a lady, you are not likely going to grow anymore," the official said.

"We need to groom athletes at the grassroots to become our national players," Orodele told reporters.

According to him, clubs needed to train the right people, who would feed the national teams, and ensure that the training given to the current crop of players would not be a waste.

He urged clubs to go to different schools to scout for players, who had the required height for the game. Endit