Smart Eagles Sports Academy
The director of Smart Eagles Sports Academy, Aderinto Saheed, said the academy wants to bring basketball scouts to Nigeria. They aim to find young players with potential and help them build professional careers. This includes chances to play in the NBA, according to Sunday PUNCH.
Saheed, who is also known as Coach Smart, made these comments during the academy’s first Rising Above The Rim Basketball Championship. The event took place at the Indoor Basketball Court at the University of Lagos on Saturday.
He explained that the competition aims to find talented young players, develop their skills, and give them chances to grow in basketball.
“Our major objective is to get talented basketball players who can represent us in the NBA. We are planning to bring national scouts to Nigeria so they can watch the players and identify those who are talented and skilful,” Saheed said.
The championship had five secondary schools competing in the boys’ and girls’ categories. The aim is to promote basketball development, encourage healthy competition, and let young talents showcase their skills.
Saheed also talked about the financial challenges of organizing the tournament. He said help from friends and supporters allowed him to keep the initiative going despite the difficulties.
“I faced a lot of challenges financially. At some point, I wanted to quit, but I thank God for the friends who supported what I was doing. Despite the challenges, we want to achieve the objectives we set for ourselves,” he added.
Another speaker at the event, Ajitokewu Babajide, known as Coach Babajide, spoke about the importance of grassroots competitions. He believes they are key for finding and developing young basketball players.
“Today’s competition showed that the children have special talents. Many of them were technical with their skills, and there were beautiful individual displays from the players,” he said.
He mentioned that grassroots competitions can help young athletes move from school basketball to higher levels of the sport. But he also pointed out some challenges young players face.
Babajide noted that the lack of chances to showcase talent, financial issues, and injuries are big problems for young players who want to grow their careers.
He called on sports administrators to organize more grassroots competitions. He stressed that talented players might go unnoticed without regular chances to compete and show their skills.
Babajide also asked the government to support sports organizations and administrators in holding more competitions. He believes that more investment in grassroots basketball will help Nigeria produce players who can compete on the international stage.
In the boys’ competition, Green Springs School came out on top after winning both of their matches. They finished first in a three-team contest.
International School Lagos took second place, while King’s College ended up in third place. International School Lagos started the competition by winning 15-10 against King’s College but later lost 20-16 to Green Springs. Green Springs also beat King’s College 20-15 to win the championship.
Egwaikhide Tirenioluwa from Green Springs was the top scorer with 15 points. Teammate Ugochukwu Daniel followed with 14 points, and Ayolugbe Ian from Green Springs also did well, finishing third among the leading scorers with 13 points.
In the girls’ category, Green Springs defeated Queen’s College in the only match played to take the victory.
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