Adenike Olawuyi, one of the 2023 FIBA Women’s Afrobasket winners, says attending basketball camps helped make her who she is today.
Adewuyi disclosed this on the sidelines of the ongoing annual Amimu Good Work Foundation (AGWF) elite camp at the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium in Ibadan.
‘I attended this camp in 2019, and it was a good experience; I learned a lot from this camp, and honestly, it was a good camp.
” I started basketball in 2017, and it was more like I was found on the streets by my coach.
“He said, ‘You can’t be wasting your height like this’, and he encouraged me to start playing basketball.
“I asked for time to think about it. and I gave in after a while.
“I remember by first training session, it was good, and I told my second coach that ‘I think I’m getting interested in basketball’.
“From there, I started putting in hard work, and I made sure I attended morning and evening practice every day.”
She said that she went to many camps, the first of which was Oyebode Adebowale camp in Akure, where she emerged the most valuable player (female) in 2017.
“The second was Olumide Oyedeji in 2018 and I also got most valuable player for girls, Hope For Girls also in 2018 and many more,” she said.
The NKA Universitas Pecs players said that in 2019, she received a scholarship to play basketball in high school in Hungary.
“I spent four years in high school in Hungary, and now I’m in the university there.
“It was one of my dreams to play for Nigeria, and last year I came to Nigeria and saw that there was trials for the D’tigress.
“I went for the trials in Lagos and I was picked to join the second phase in Abuja.
“I was in Abuja with 19 other players, and luckily, I made the final list for the Afro basketball.
“It was really a tough one because I was the youngest player, and I learned a lot from the older players.
“My teammates and coaches kept encouraging me and kept saying they see a lot of potential in me.”
NAN reports that the D’Tigress defeated Senegal to win the 2023 FIBA Women’s Afrobasket title in Kigali, Rwanda. (NAN)
