Nigerian Basketball Federation trains 142 technical officials ahead of 2017 season
ABUJA - The Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) earlier this month held a refresher course for a total of 142 technical officials during the week-long Annual General Meeting and Stakeholders meeting
ABUJA - The Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) earlier this month held a refresher course for a total of 142 technical officials during the week-long Annual General Meeting and Stakeholders meeting in Abuja.
A total of 54 coaches, 16 statisticians and 72 referees were certified after going through refresher classes.
Scott Nnaji, President of the Nigeria Coaches Association, said the high number of play makers came as a result of encouraging coaches - regardless of their level - to be a part of the association.
"Our goal is to get coaches together so that we can have a voice," he said. "While there are various grades of coaches, at the moment we're concerned with having a good body of representation of various zones to bring training closer to the grassroots. The essence of this is to get our coaches to understand what it means to write a report, how to set screens, drawing up training programmes and lots more."
Scott Nnaji was at the helm of Nigeria at FIBA AfroBasket Women 2015
International referee Babatunde Popoola said the area of officiating was talked about with a view for them to do their jobs according to the rules of the game.
Meanwhile, the NBBF announced it is ready for the commencement of a new season next month, when national champions Kano Pillars will begin the defence of their title.
In a statement released at the end of the meeting, the NBBF claimed they had secured a $12 million sponsorship deal for five years (2017-2021) for NBBF events, including the Men's Premier Basketball League. A public signing and unveiling of the new deal is expected ahead of the new season in late March.
Nigerian Basketball Federation Gets $12million Deal https://t.co/mHAms6i0F6 @NBA_Africa @NigeriaBasket #Africa @AyotundeOnabolu
— Benny Bonsu (@MsBennyBonsu) February 5, 2017
In addition, Zenith Bank, the sponsor of the federation's National Women's Basketball League, confirmed the renewal of the sponsorship of the league for another three years 2017-2019.
The AGM also reviewed the federation's activities for 2016 and commended especially the National Men's and Women's teams for consolidating their upward mobility during the Rio Olympic Games and the Women Olympic Qualifying tournament in France respectively and called on all stakeholders to continue to contribute their quota in moving the game in the country to the next level.
FIBA