Nigeria will have seven budding talents at the 17th edition of the Basketball Without Borders (BWB) which will begin on Sunday in Dakar, Senegal. It will end on Wednesday.
The Nigerian contingent is made of three female players – Fredricks Victory, Funke Zaccheaus Oluwatunmise, Oladipupo Opeyemi Balkis and four male players – Ojianwuna Joshua, Ariybi Oluwatobi Samuel, Abodunrin Olusola John and Okpene Emmanuel Eneji.
Sixty players – 20 girls, 40 boys – from 29 African countries will take part in the camp, which is returning to Dakar for the second time after the city hosted it in 2010. This is the third time the camp is holding outside South Africa with Angola holding the event in 2016.
The event, which is being put together by BWB, National Basketball Association (NBA) and International Basketball Federation (FIBA) will see NBA stars and coaches lead the campers through a variety of activities, including movement efficiency, positional skill development, shooting and skills competitions, 5-on-5 games, and daily life skills seminars focusing on health, leadership and communication.
At the end of the tournament a boy and a girl will be named BWB Africa Camp Most Valuable Players at the conclusion of the camp.
The campers will be coached by former and current NBA players, including two-time NBA All-Star Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers; Cameroon; BWB Africa 2011), two-time NBA Champion Chris Bosh (U.S.), 2017 NBA Rookie of the Year Malcolm Brogdon (Indiana Pacers; U.S.), two-time NBA All-Star Luol Deng (most recently with the Minnesota Timberwolves; South Sudan), Gorgui Dieng (Timberwolves; Senegal; BWB Africa 2009), Luc Mbah a Moute (most recently with the LA Clippers; Cameroon; BWB Africa 2003), Tacko Fall (Boston Celtics; Senegal), Makhtar Ndiaye (former NBA player; Senegal), Boniface Ndong (former NBA player; Senegal) and NBA Global Ambassador Dikembe Mutombo (Democratic Republic of the Congo).
Joining the NBA players will be 2003 WNBA Champion and NBA Academy Africa Associate Technical Director, Astou Ndiaye (Senegal); Mozambique basketball legend and former WNBA player, Clarisse Machanguana (Mozambique); former NBA player and Philadelphia 76ers General Manager, Elton Brand (U.S.); former NBA player and Capital City Go-Go General Manager, Pops Mensah-Bonsu (UK/Ghana); and former NBA player and 76ers Technical Scout, Ruben Boumtje Boumtje (Cameroon) and Olumide Oyedeji (2015 FIBA Africa Champion with Nigeria).
NBA head coaches Kenny Atkinson (Nets), Doc Rivers (Clippers) and David Fizdale (New York Knicks), and current NBA assistant coaches DeSagana Diop (Utah Jazz; Senegal), B.J. Johnson (Houston Rockets), Vince Legarza (Jazz), Patrick Mutombo (Toronto Raptors) and Miles Simon (LA Lakers), will also serve as BWB Africa 2019 coaches. Raptors President Masai Ujiri (Nigeria) and World Association of Basketball Coaches President and FIBA Technical Commission Chair Patrick Hunt (Australia) will be the camp directors.
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