By Babatunde Ogunrinde
Lagos – Barbara Harper, Chairman, Lagos State Basketball Association (LSBBA) on Friday said that the newly elected board was determined to take basketball to the next level.
She said this during the association’s first ever Annual General Meeting (AGM) which held at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Suruelere.
Harper said that she was delighted to have hosted the stakeholders’ meeting which would communicate to the public and the stakeholders the association’s work plan for the year.
The meeting which is the first of its kind in the association’s history was also used to introduce the new board inaugurated last December.
She said that the meeting was to rub minds with the public and every passionate fan/stakeholders on how to move the sport forward.
“We are happy to meet with everybody as we try to showcase our plans for the year and welcome advisers and critics of our plans.
“Our major desire is to take basketball back to the top and in doing so, we need the total support of the basketball family here in Lagos.
“We are critical about the future of the game and this is why during our tenure, we intend to develop the game from the grassroots to the professional level.
“We also want to continue sponsoring the secondary schools competition, Youth Alive Basketball League and most importantly, the Lagos City League,’’ Harper said.
Also, Olumide Oyedeji, the Vice-Chairman of LSBBA, said the association was determined to turn the fortunes of basketball around for good, with such monthly programmes as the Intercollegiate Basketball League, Youth Alive Basketball League, Olumide Oyedeji Basketball League, the City League and many other grassroots programmes.
According to him, the association will also embark on training programmes for coaches and the table officials and also the referees, and that as a veteran of the sport, he was delighted to throw his wealth of experience and welcome many other individuals and private corporate bodies to back their initiatives.
“We are barely three months old and sincerely it has not been easy as we have continued to meet so that we can arrive at possible programmes to take basketball to the next level in Lagos State.
“We know that basketball is a major sport in Lagos State that is why we have carefully sat down together to put up a workable plan of actions that will see the smooth running of events.
“We use this opportunity to call on the members of the public and corporate world to come and back our projects which is to take basketball to every door step in Lagos.
“We are confident of a great working year ahead as we intend to revive the sport and make sure every youths to love the game,’’ Oyedeji said.
Similarly, the Executive Chairman, Lagos State Sports Commission, Dr Kweku Tandor, congratulated the board for putting up the first ever forum for stakeholders to discuss the way forward.
He said that it was a sign of a determined board and the sort of development needed in the state’s sports sector.
“We are going to give them the necessary support to revitalise basketball, especially at the grassroots level where we can plan well for the future generations to come,’’ Tandor said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the association also used the annual general meeting to unveil their new logo which, they said, was focused on getting them to the next level.
According to the board, the events will start rolling in from April till the end of the year. (NAN)