Renowned grassroots basketball programme Giants of Africa will be launched in Rwanda tomorrow. The launch will be followed by a three-day training camp which will end on August 15 in Kigali. Organised by NBA franchise team Toronto Raptors general manager, Masai Ujiri from Nigeria, Giants of Africa aims at using basketball as a means to educate and enrich the lives of the youth of Africa. “Giants of Africa is coming to Rwanda because we want to expand our outreach and give young players exposure,” said Abel Nelson, the Eastern and Southern Africa coordinator of Giants of Africa in an interview with Times Sport. The Top 50 programme has attracted the top 50 players from across Rwanda who will attend a training camp tomorrow at Rafiki community centre in Nyamirambo. They will later under go another grueling 2-day training facilitated by coaches from the USA and six locally based ones led by national team coach Moise Mutokambali at Amahoro Stadium. Rwanda Basketball Federation (FERWABA) technical director Shema Maboko said, “This is a very great opportunity for our players and coaches to learn from experienced coaches. It is in line with our grassroots programme especially because we have invited players from across the country.” The 50 players are from across the country including Gicumbi, Musanze, Rubavu, Kayonza, Rwamagana and Kigali among others. Ujiri started Giants of Africa in 2003 after gaining inspiration from NBA Africa’s Basketball Without Borders programme where he is a camp director. As a basketball player in Nigeria, Ujiri noticed that Africa has a lot of talented players but most of the time they were ‘raw’ and were inexperienced in the game and did not have access to coaches and facilities so he decided to start the Giants of Africa programme to make it easy for young players to access them.
