The 10th annual Aminu Good Works Foundation Nigeria Basketball Combine, which kicked off at the Lekan Salami Stadium, Adamasingba, Ibadan, Oyo State, on Friday, climaxed on Sunday with the emergence of the First Team and two Most Valuable Players.

Precious Jude and Ajibade Abraham were named the Most Valuable Players, while the competition also produced a First Team comprising 14 male and female players.

Overall, the three-day basketball combine featured 150 young prospects, comprising 100 boys and 50 girls drawn mainly from Oyo State, as well as 15 coaches, with one coach assigned to every 10 players.

Reflecting on the motivation behind the initiative while speaking with The PUNCH at the venue in Ibadan, Nigerian basketball icon and founder of the Aminu Good Works Foundation, Aminu Al-Farouq, said it was his way of giving back to his fatherland.

“It was a higher power. I just felt called to give back. And I felt I had the ability to do it. I had a calling to want to be back to my Nigerian roots. I realised that this is something that I’m obviously very passionate about. It’s been 10 years now and I’m going to continue to be passionate about it. I have a team and I believe that we’re primed to do some amazing things,” Al-Farouq said.

“I remember initially I just played for the national team, but the overall goal initially was always to have Nigeria basketball go to the Olympics and have us just on a national scale. That’s how I thought of it at first. And then after coming, you realise that basketball is just a small portion of the things that are needed for sure,” he added.

On the achievements of the foundation since its inception in 2016, the NBA veteran said it had remained committed to consistency.

“I would say just consistency right now. Yes, I think we missed one year and that was because of COVID. But yes, obviously, unless we can’t fly, we usually do the event for sure.

“The type of things that I wanted to see, I would say that it took a little bit of time because I had a full-time job at the time.”

It was hard to just give this all of my focus. Now that I’m done playing and I needed some time even after that, it’s a big lifestyle change and I had to adjust,” Al-Farouq said.

He explained that the camp was named “Who is Chief?” to discover which of the participating young prospects would emerge as the next Chief.

“That’s why I named the camp, ‘Who is the Chief?’ I want to find out who’s the next Chief? Who’s going to be that next kid who does their own stuff and becomes everything they need to become?” he said.

The 10th Nigeria Basketball Combine is scheduled to continue in Abuja from August 13 to 16.