The Lagos Youth Alive Junior Basketball League will commence its third season on Saturday 21st January 2017 as agreed at the stakeholders` meeting held on two days ago at the Lagos State Sports Complex (Rowe Park) Yaba. The basketball league was established to serve as a platform for young basketball players to be discovered and nurtured.
The regular season of this year`s edition will be played on two different courts in Lagos - Ilupeji Basketball Ground and Rowe Park Sports Centre - while the finals will hold at the Mobolaji Johnson Sports Hall, Rowe Park between 26th and 29th May.
In its tradition, the league will feature academies from neighbouring states including Ogun, Osun, Oyo, Ondo, Ekiti and Delta. According to the communique released after the meeting, teams from outside Lagos State will play very few games in the regular season and have automatic qualification to play in the finals in May.
Speaking about the impact the Youth Alive Junior Basketball League has had since its establishment, the programme coordinator Mr Gbade Latona stated that; "It is a platform for several young talented players to gain admission into higher institutions both home and abroad. Some of the beneficiaries have even graduated. It has also a platform for premiership league clubs (male and female) to shop for players. To date, the platform has produced several players that has represented both country and their respective states at the youth level"
The Youth Alive Programme is not only targeted at players. It is also an avenue to develop young referees, coaches and table officials.
The teams will be grouped into four different categories. These are 12 Under (boys and girls), 16 (Under boys), 19 Under (boys) and 19 Under (girls). Over 20 teams are expected to participate.
On what to expect this year, he added that;"We plan to improve upon certain areas including proper documentation of age of participants. We also expect high moral and skillful teaching from coaches and display of good skills and sportsmanship from the athletes"
We wish the organisers and all participants a successful and injury free season.
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