The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Basketball team have attributed their dominance of the Paramilitary Basketball Tournament to team work, commitment and dedication.
The Defenders defeated Nigerian counterparts, the Baton, in a keenly contested final of the Paramilitary Basketball Championship to win the title back-to-back after winning last year’s edition.
The NSCDC Basketball Team manager, Mr Oseni, said the victory did not come to them as a surprise, stressing that the team came out to win and not make up the number for the tournament.
He said the Defenders are the only basketball team in Nigeria that train regularly and not just for a tournament.
“There’s nothing you can achieve without dedication and perseverance, you know. We can’t say we are 100 percent in shape, but at every point in time the players, the coaches, and all the officials are always on their toes.
“I think we’re the only basketball team in Nigeria that never stops training no matter what situations we find ourselves in. Even if there’s no competition in sight, we keep training and practicing. So when competitions like this come up, especially when it comes to other paramilitary organisations, we understand that our Commandant General always takes competition seriously, in that case we always come with our A games.
“Last year we competed against the Nigerian Correctional Service team, the Reformers.We won the game by one point at the final. The same thing this year, against the Nigerian Police Basketball Ball team, the Batons, we won by the same one point.
“We give the glory to God Almighty and we appreciate our Commandant General Dr. Abubakar Ahmed Audi and the support of all the officials at the national headquarters,” Oseni said.
Speaking further, Oseni said the team will now focus on qualifying to represent Nigeria in the Basketball African League (BAL). “Talking about where we are going next, there are other competitions like the Basketball African League which is presently going on in Senegal, we are expected to qualify again, the same championship we went for in Morocco some years back. We are expected to bounce back into the championship.
“We have to qualify from the local league and with God on our side and the full support of our Commandant General, we shall make it.”
Oseni however appealed to basketball administrators in Nigeria to redouble their efforts and focus more on creating a sustainable platform for the kids to play basketball.
“The administrators should try and look at the development of the game rather than the egoistic and personal issues they engaged with. They should look at the future of the kids playing basketball. They are adults who are meant to be feeding their families and folks with basketball, they should look into how to factor out a good reward system. Reward drives great performance.
“”There are good players in Nigeria but the reward system is something else. You can imagine that our league has not been running properly, I can’t even say running. This is a topic I wouldn’t want to touch.”
The captain of the team, John Mathias, said consistent training is the secret behind their success story and appealed to the Commandant General of NSCDC, Dr. Abubakar Ahmed Audi for more support.
“Basketball is our primary responsibility and assignment. We train all the time, whether there’s a competition or not, we do our job.
“So in the last tournament I think the good training and connection among the players gave us the winning edge. There were other strong teams in the competition like the Police, the Road Safety Corps but because of our consistent practice we were able to scale through and defeat them to come top. We know the Commandant is committed to our success and I think he’s willing to do more.