”We leave Gabon satisfied with the welcome and the work carried out. But also impressed by the abilities of the young people we had to integrate and apply our lessons on the game and personal development. After only two days of work, we only had a few details to resolve. This means that Gabon is full of potential that must be exploited. Basketball is a discipline in constant evolution. It is therefore important, for the future of Gabonese and African basketball, to give the necessary tools to these many young people full of potential, but also to coaches, to respond to the demands of the time and the international scene..”
These are the closing words of Joe Tuomo, instructor, NBA Academy Africa technical director and main director of the Giants of Africa (GOA) basketball camp that Gabon hosted for the first time from October 10 to 12, 2024 at the Center gymnasium. multi-sectoral Nkok. A meeting which brought together 70 young people, aged 15 to 19, and at the end of which the eight best girls and as many boys from skimming will be directed to Kigali (Rwanda) for another international filter intended for supervised structures by the NBA.
As a reminder, the objective of GOA, an organization dedicated to the development of basketball for more than 20 years and co-founded by Masai Ujiri (president of the Canadian franchise of the Toronto Raptors, 2019 NBA champion), is also to educate through sports.
“Basketball is important, but so is academic education. We want to see these young people become not only athletes, but also doctors, lawyers and leaders“, explained last Thursday during the opening ceremony the leader of Nigerian origin and absent at the closing due to an overloaded schedule.
The curtains fell on the GOA with also the feeling of duty accomplished for Géraldine Robert, the former international basketball player, focal point of the aforementioned continental program in Gabon and invested for several years, via her association (Yemaly), in the promotion of sport – studies in basketball across his country.
