Plans to have a successful 2023 Olumide Oyedeji Basketball Summer Camp which dunks off 21st through to 25th August in Lagos have been concluded.
The 22nd edition is scheduled to hold at the Indoor Sports Hall National Stadium Surulere, Lagos.
The event whose inaugural edition held in 2000 will hold from Monday, 21st of August to Saturday, 25th of August from 9am to 4pm daily.
The camp is open to kids from 4 years to 17 years with scholarships on offer for outstanding talents at the end of the week-long camping exercise. Though, a basketball camp, resource persons will also be on ground to talk to campers about career choices and equip them with life skills.
According to Olumide Oyedeji- founder of the initiative that has produced stars such as Nigerian internationals, Charles Bassey who plays his basketball with San Antonio Spurs in NBA, celebrities like Kaffy, Vector and CDQ. The 22nd edition will be unique from the past camping exercises.
An elated Olumide Oyedeji said, “We are excited to have another unique opportunity to impact kids through the camp. The importance of this camp cannot be over-emphasized. We are glad about what we have achieved and the quality of talents that have passed through us.
“The camp is not just about basketball. We also invite resource persons to talk to the kids about life and career choices in case basketball does not work out. Some have gone to represent Nigeria such as Churchill Odia (member of the senior national team to the FIBA Africa Championship in 2007)”.
“Other rising talents include Charles Bassey currently with San Antonio Spurs in NBA, Efemena Abogidi who recently got signed by G- League, Samuel Ariyibi (NBA Academy alumni), and Reuben Chinyelu in the NBA Academy”.
Kaffy and Bassey were among many who bagged scholarship from the Foundation.
D’Tigress duo or of Balogun Elizabeth and Adenike Adewuyi who just won the 2023 Afrobasket with the women’s national team have also being campers
Oyedeji highlighted Kafayat Oluwatoyin Shafau- dancer, choreographer, and entertainer known to many as Kaffy, Sodiq Abubakar Yusuf (CDQ), and Olanrewaju Ogunmefun (Vector) as some of the kids that passed through the camp.
As of the last count, over 40,000 kids from all over the world have participated in the camp. Since its inception 23 years ago, various cities across Nigeria such as Ibadan, Osogbo, Jos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano, Ado Ekiti, Abeokuta, and Lagos have played host to the camp, and over 75 kids receiving scholarships from the Olumide Oyedeji Foundation.
