NBA Africa today hosted the first all-girls Jr. NBA clinic in Ghana, which was held at Trust Sports Emporium in Accra in conjunction with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff’s first visit to the country this week.
The event featured a basketball clinic for 60 girls aged 18 and younger and a life skills seminar led by 2003 WNBA champion Astou Ndiaye and attended by Second Gentleman Emhoff, Ghana’s Minister of Youth and Sports Hon. Mustapha Ussif, Ghana Basketball Association President Ato Van-Ess, NBA Africa CEO Victor Williams, NBA Africa Head of Basketball Operations Franck Traore, and Basketball Africa League Head of Strategy and Operations John Manyo-Plange.
“We are thrilled to be back in Accra to host the first all-girls Jr. NBA clinic in Ghana as part of NBA Africa’s broader efforts to make the game of basketball more accessible across the continent,” said Williams. “We are thankful to Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff and Ghana’s Minister of Youth and Sports Hon. Mustapha Ussif for their support and look forward to bringing more events to Ghana in the near future.”
The event builds on NBA Africa’s previous basketball camps and clinics in Ghana, which have featured appearances by current and former NBA players including former NBA player and Olympian Pops Mensah-Bonsu (Ghana/UK), two-time NBA champion Chris Bosh, two-time NBA All-Star Luol Deng (South Sudan), Gorgui Dieng (San Antonio Spurs; Senegal) and 2019 NBA champion Serge Ibaka (most recently with the Milwaukee Bucks; Republic of the Congo).
The Jr. NBA, the league’s global youth basketball program for boys and girls, teaches the fundamental skills as well as the core values of the game – teamwork, respect, determination and community – at the grassroots level in an effort to help grow and improve the youth basketball experience for players, coaches and parents. Jr. NBA programming has directly reached tens of thousands of youth in 16 African countries.
