The new project around the orange ball in Senegal promotes the development of local infrastructure. During the inauguration of the two basketball courts in Guédiawaye, AFD, NBA Africa, Seed Project and BAL congratulated this important part of the program « Jr. NBA & AFD Basketball Experience » in addition to the benefits for young people.
Amadou Gallo Fall, CEO of the Basketball Africa League, underlined the importance of this program which, according to him, facilitates access to the practice of basketball and makes it possible to identify and develop talent throughout Senegal. “This partnership with AFD allows us to extend the network that we want to establish throughout Africa to make basketball accessible. And that starts with the construction of buildings like this field and above all the training of coaches… You need the fields but you also need expertise to run the programs to continue to inspire these young people to live their passion for basketball.”
Basketball Experience concretely translates the announcement by Adam Silver, NBA commission on the construction of 1,000 basketball courts in Africa over the next decade. Kita Matungulu is the director of operations for Nba Africa, he believes that Basketball Experience is an opportunity for the development of this discipline on the continent. “They are part of the strategy for the growth of basketball in Africa. But the most important thing is that each country will be provided with land and programs. The infrastructure helps with organic growth but there is also the training of coaches and programs for young people who in the years to come will have the opportunity to develop in the practice of basketball.
Launched in 2021 in Morocco and Nigeria, this program is being launched in Senegal. After Guédiawaye, the Saint-Louis region will benefit from this program to raise awareness and train young people through sport. “It’s a way of considering sport as a tool, an instrument to forge young people with values such as living together, building together and winning because sport is a vector of performance. These programs take place over time and must make it possible to structure a dynamic that will allow children to learn within the framework of this program,” said Mihoub Mezouaghi, Director of AFD in Senegal.
The maintenance of sports infrastructures is also of capital importance in the sustainability of this program. Joseph Lopez, president of Seed Project, raised awareness among young people in the commune of Ndiareme Limamoulaye. “It will be up to young people to take ownership of this land and do something beneficial for them. Because it’s their community, they have to maintain it. Maybe we’ll be there next year to attend sporting events.”
wiwsport.com
