As First Bank Women’s Basketball Club intensifies preparations for this year’s Zone 3 elimination series for FIBA African Club Championship, Coach Adewunmi Aderemi is counting on the club’s experience.
First Bank players with their hard-won trophies
First Bank Women’s Basketball Club is Nigeria’s representatives in this year’s International Basketball Federation (FIBA) African Club Championship.
In a chat with TheNiche at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, Aderemi assured Nigerians that the players will not disappoint, as they have the experience to edge out other opponents in the qualifiers.
First Bank secured the ticket to represent the country after finishing first at the end of the 2013/14 Nigeria’s Women Basketball League season ahead of Dolphins Basketball Club. Both teams thus qualified to represent the country.
Aderemi said: “Already, we’ve started our preparations about two months ago, and we are not relenting as we are working very hard to come out tops.
“The spirits of the players are very high in camp, and with my experience and theirs in the championship, we are sure of victory.
“We missed the qualifiers last year by not winning the league, first time in the past 10 years; but now we are battle-ready for the opposition.”
According to him, experience of the past qualifiers would be an added advantage for the team to scale through.
His words: “We won the championship in 2003 and 2009, came second in 2011, and placed third in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008.
“And going by the support from the management, I am optimistic of performing creditably because we are not novices when it comes to basketball competition in the continent. The experience is there for us.
“As you are aware that some of my players are still young, we are building a new strong team.
“This means that the old and the new players would have enough time to blend very well ahead of the qualifiers.”
With the rigorous trainings the players have been subjected to, they have assured that they will not disappoint and would put in their best, according to the coach.
Meanwhile, due to the ongoing spread of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), the organisers are yet to fix a date and venue for the qualifiers, which ought to have been held between September and October in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
FIBA Africa Zone 3 comprises Nigeria, Benin Republic, Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Ghana, Burkina Faso and Niger Republic.