FIBA Basketball Instructor Joe Touomou says the all-female basketball coaching clinic that was held on Wednesday, January 7 must be encouraged.
He said this in an exclusive interview with Citi Sports on the sidelines of the program that was held at the University of Ghana, Legon Campus.
The program was put together by the Ghana Basketball Federation and Giants of Africa (GOA)- a social oriented organization that uses basketball to empower Africa’s youth. GOA is led by former NBA Executive of the Year Award winner Masai Ujiri.
It is the first of two major activities Giants of Africa are engaged with in Ghana; the organization will unveil a newly constructed basketball court at the Demonstration School for the Deaf in Mampong Akuapem as part of GOA’s commitment to build 100 basketball courts in Africa.
President of the Toronto Raptors, Masai Ujiri presents Scottie Barnes #4 with the 2021-22 Kia NBA Rookie Of The Year Award during Round 1 Game 4 of the 2022 NBA Playoffs (Photo by Mark Blinch/NBAE via Getty Images)
Toumou and GOA coaches including Geraldine Robert and Ghana Basketball Federation President Alex Kukula and Vice President Ayitey Bulley headlined the event.
Joe Touomou at Giants of Africa All-Female Basketball Clinic in Ghana
“It’s the first of its kind as far as I know with the Giants of Africa experience, an all-female camp, is something that has to be encouraged. I was super excited to be part of this because we just made history here.”
Joe Touomou at Giants of Africa All-Female Basketball Clinic in Ghana
“The most important thing now is to…understand that they-the participating coaches- must continue to learn, they have to continue to be a student of the game and once they do that they have to also go out there and apply the stuff that they learned with the kids-players” Joe Touomou said.
Joe Touomou at Giants of Africa All-Female Basketball Clinic in Ghana
On her part, Ghana Basketball Federation Treasurer Commodore-Toppar stated that, “We’ve witnessed them-GOA Coaches-…taking us through coaching, what it entails in coaching, things we have to know, things we didn’t know, we’ve kind of acquired it and we’re praying that going forward we will be able to execute whatever we’ve learnt.”
