LAGOS – Gbade Olatona, the Coordinator, Youth Alive Basketball Community League (YACBL) on Saturday, said that the league would sanction clubs that involved in age falsification in the 2015 season.
He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the league, which features youths in the U-12, 14, 16 and 18 categories, would no longer tolerate age cheats.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
“We are happy to be back with organising the 2015 YACBL which dunks off on Jan. 16 and is expected to run for another six months.
“The junior basketball tournament for boys and girls is organised to develop players by engaging them[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
in competitive matches and helping them to rise through the platform.
“In the past, we have seen many discrepancies as regards the right ages of players, which defeat the[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
aim of the programme of catching youngsters at their right ages.
“We intend to put a stop to this and put necessary measures in place to deter any club or coach from [pro_ad_display_adzone id=”8″]trying to make their players lie about their ages,’’ the coordinator said.
According to Olatona the YACBL is premised on developing youths positively and teaching them the right values of living.
“When a coach or club tells a 14-year-old to falsify his or her age just to play in the U-12 category to win matches, such coach or club is not helping the child.
“The coach’s first priority should be teaching their young players the value of good morals, which is the key ingredient of developing the youth.
“The future is very bright for our players, we want to them to play for many years competing favourably at the national and international levels, using their right ages,’’ he said.
NAN reports that the YACBL is in its sixth season and it is being organised by Deepbond Academy in conjunction with the Lagos State Basketball Association.
In the 2014 edition, no fewer than 12 basketball academies in Lagos registered for the junior league.
The league matches are played at the Mobolaji Johnson Sports Complex, Yaba-Lagos. (NAN)
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