Former NBA player Pops Mensah-Bonsu has reiterated the need for an indoor basketball infrastructure in Ghana after his organization, Seed Academy Ghana, held a two-day elite basketball camp at the University of Ghana.
The event was to inspire young people in the basketball game.
Over 30 basketball coaches were taken through techniques of coaching in Basketball such as court movements, ball handling, passing, and defense as well as communication by officials from the Basketball Africa League(BAL) on the final day of the basketball camp at the University of Ghana Basketball Court.
“We want to make sure that we’re able to have indoor basketball courts, more facilities, performance, medical professionals who can help these players develop mental health too because basketball is a sport that’s also very mental.
“We want to make sure we’re teaching them from a young age, how to persevere, how to overcome, how to be leaders, and how to be competitive too.”- Pops told Asaasesports.
“Those facilities will be sooner than you think We’re taking the steps to identify what some of the issues are.”
“Now that we know some of what the basic issues are, we’re gonna start putting things in place here.”
“The last time, I did my 3×3 competition it rained for five hours. So we were sitting in these tents for five hours.
In some other countries, you don’t have those issues. we could just go inside and play that’s not doesn’t affect me as much as the kids.”
“Even when I grew up playing basketball, I was able to go to a gym and play I’m a Ghanaian but I didn’t grow up here so some of the issues that exist are not the same but I realized I have the opportunity to fix them, I’ll help to fix them,”- Pops added.
Pops and the Seed Academy have held a series of events for young basketball players and coaches for the past 3 years.
When asked about the deficiencies identified in Ghana Basketball, he stressed the lack of modern infrastructure to enhance the development of the game in the country.
“In many other countries, especially some other countries in Africa, they have a lot more infrastructure, a lot more of a solid foundation in place. In Ghana, we don’t have many or any indoor facilities.
Basketball is an indoor sport, you could learn out here and make the best of what you have. But we want to get to the point where we can level the playing field, and make it equitable for everybody to get an opportunity to play this game.”
“So that’s why we’re providing this access and opportunity for these players because they don’t have it now. And I feel like if we don’t provide it, they’re gonna get forgotten and left behind.”
Story By: Princeton Wiredu
