Soweto Basketball Academy claims title once again
Other defending champions, Sandton Bullz Brooklyn Nets boys’ team claimed their trophy for the second time.
The Soweto Basketball Academy girls’ team (Spurs) once again proved their greatness when they returned the trophy back home as the Jr. NBA 2023 Johannesburg champions.
The tournament began in May with about 600 children participating and a monumental day of the finals was on Sunday, October 22 at the Klipspruit Sports Centre.
Other defending champions, Sandton Bullz Brooklyn Nets boys’ team claimed their trophy for the second time.
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According to Coach Monwabisi Dlamini (Coach Mo) of the champions, the road to the finals was not an easy one for his team; however, like any other tournament her girls understood the importance of consistency and sustainability.
“Building up to the finals was not easy because we struggled to get facilities to train in and the kids have been determined, more especially the girls for me were really outstanding,” said Coach Mo.
The Soweto Basketball Academy girls’ team has been Jr. NBA champions for four years in a row and this is what their coach had to say about maintaining their title, “We are more like a community team, we know what we’re playing and who we’re playing for.”
This year has indeed given women in sports the platform to showcase what they are all about and all they needed was a voice and their dedication took centre stage.
Jr. NBA began a programme called Her Time To Play to encourage organisations to incorporate female mentors and role models into their programmes.
Joel Yabo from NBA Africa basketball Operations mentioned that, “As NBA Africa we are intentional about advancing gender inclusion.
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This programme is dedicated to girls and we make sure that we are transmitting some notion around leadership, training more female coaches, female administration and female referees.”
Coach Mo concludes by inviting kids from Soweto to start basketball as early as possible because that is the only way to get better.
“Any kid can play basketball and height is not a barrier which is why we believe in building the skill from an early age.”
