6 teams from the Enugu and Abuja centres have booked their placement in the National Final of the Zenith Bank Women Basketball League holding in Lagos. Following days of competition in the Atlantic conference (Enugu) and Savannah conference (Abuja), 6 Qualifiers emerged for the Final 6. In the Atlantic, current league champions, First Bank, Dolphins […]
via First Bank, Customs and 4 Others Qualify For Zenith Bank Women’s Basketball League — finixsportsblog
Head coach of First Bank Basketball club of Lagos, Aderemi Adewunmi has defended the early commencement of his teams preparation for the Africa Club women championship qualifiers later this year.
The camping taking place at the Basketball hall of the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos started after the players were given about 2months extended break following an hectic basketball season.
The coach who masterminded a famous victory over Dolphins Basketball Club of Lagos in a pulsating final decided at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium, Lagos enroute to the 2014 Championship revealed that “We started our preparation from August 18th because we do not want to wait for FIBA Africa’s letter before we start getting ready as we actually dont know when the letter will be out.”
“So, I decided we should start preparing for the tournament and we are still at it right now”
“We have a lot of young girls and we need to work all the year round to turn them into champions, so anytime the letter comes, we are ready to play.”
When quizzed whether the early preparation without any competitive match will not come around to haunt the team when the qualifiers starts, Adewunmi was quick to refute such claims and said a big club like First Bank with a rich history in women’s basketball in Nigeria cannot afford to joke with early and proper preparation.
“We have a tradition in First Bank Basketball club, we do not wait for official notifications before we start preparation even whenever we want to play the local league, we do not wait for Nigeria Basketball Federation to announce the commencement of the tournament before we start.”
The 2013/2014 female league award winning coach was elusive on his club’s transfer policy as they prepare for their continental challenge and was quick to jump to the defense of his players who have been together for the past 4 seasons saying barring any unforeseen circumstances, he may not bring in new faces.
“It depends on what happens because I believe in the present set of players because we have been working together for the past 4 years and i believe they are ripe enough to do well at the continental championship.”
“If I want to come in with anybody, its not going to be more than 2 players but right now, I am not thinking of anybody.”
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