Abuja Set for Major Referees Clinic Ahead of Inaugural Basketball Academies Championship

((ABA. Photo by Leadership News)

The Amateur Basketball Academies will hold a three-day referees’ clinic in Abuja next week as part of preparations for its inaugural Amateur Basketball Academies Championship.

The clinic is scheduled to run from July 9 to 11, 2026, at Package B of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja, and is targeted at young men and women between the ages of 17 and 25.

In a statement issued on Friday, the association’s Head of Media and Public Relations, Kayode Adeniyi, said the decision followed a four-hour board meeting held at the indoor multipurpose hall of the stadium.

According to the statement, prospective participants must be students with a solid understanding of basketball and must be drawn from the Federal Capital Territory and surrounding areas.

The association said the initiative is aimed at raising a new generation of basketball officials capable of meeting international standards, while also giving young people the opportunity to build careers in basketball officiating.

The three-day programme will combine classroom instruction with hands-on training, with practical sessions covering court positioning, mechanics, movement, rotation, whistle technique and timing, as well as how to interpret violations and fouls.

Classroom sessions, meanwhile, will focus on the rules of the game, rule interpretation, categories of violations and fouls, and effective game management.

The board also resolved to expand the association’s activities to Taraba, Gombe, Adamawa and Benue states as part of a broader nationwide expansion drive, building on the successful staging of coaches’ and trainers’ clinics in Minna, Niger State, last month.

In another significant decision, the board approved decentralising the venues for the maiden ABA Championship across designated zones within the Federal Capital Territory, rather than hosting the competition solely in the city centre.

The board urged members to remain committed to the association’s core objectives, reaffirming that the ABA was founded to unite basketball academies across Nigeria under a single umbrella rather than to serve as a political platform.

Those present at the meeting included ABA President DC Aliyu Lucky Abubakar, Mazi Valentine Orji, Kayode Adeniyi, Coach Adeka Daudu, Coach Emmanuel Odah, Coach Alex Ujoh, Coach Oyekan Oyedeji, and Board Secretary Genevieve Ogechi Ihenewengwa.