1st August, 2011
Nigeria basketball player, Rashidat Sadiq, who currently plays professional basketball with Antakya Belediye in Turkey, kept the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, Nigeria alive last week with a three-day clinic for young talented female players within the ages 13-18 years.
The event tagged Rashidat Sadiq Basketball Foundation was specifically meant to fill the huge gap that exists in the country between the female and male basketball players where there are various competitions for the male folks and little to cater for the needs of their female folks.
Sadiq, who represented Nigeria at the 2004 Olympics Games in Beijing, disclosed that she decided to come out with the foundation as a way of giving back to the society that brought her to the limelight.
“It was a way to give back to the community where I started my career before going for scholarship and eventually playing professional basketball abroad.
“I hope the girls were able to learn a lot at the clinic and develop on it to become future stars that would represent the country in the nearest future,†she said.
Sadiq, however, charged other professionals abroad to try to emulate her and contribute their quotas to the growth and development of basketball in the country.
The Coordinator of the clinic, Biola Shomala, said that the main objective of the initiative was to catch the players young and inculcate the fundamentals of the game in them.
In his words, “the motive of this initiative is to give our young girls the opportunity to develop their skills and to boost their morale in the game.”
Shomala also stated that “this is a unique thing in the country because the female players have been craving for this type of clinic where they will learn the rudiments of the sport like their male counterparts.”
It was gathered that the Rashidat Sadiq Basketball Foundation will be a yearly event and next year’s edition will take place in Ibadan, Oyo State where Sadiq started her basketball career.