ChampionS of 2011 Milo Secondary School Basketball Championship, Adamawa's General Murtala Muhammed College (GMMC), Yola, have begun their campaign at the maiden Youthfit Africa U-17 tournament holding in Johannesburg, South Africa.The coach Tinism Dickson-tutored side will compete against five top basketball-playing schools in Johannesburg at the four-day competition holding at the Sacred Heart College in Gauteng Province of Johannesburg City.Also, as part of the Yola-based school tour of South Africa, the team, led by Coach Dickson, organised clinic for pupils of the Sacred Heart College.The pupils, who were excited by the exercise, were tutored on the basics of the game by captain Jerome Zebedee-inspired northern team.Eleven-year-old captain of the Sacred Heart College junior team, Tebago Molefe, said he was excited working with the Nigerian students. 'It is enjoyable learning new skills from the Nigerians because I noticed that they are quite good.'We were taught that in basketball, teamwork is very vital to success. What we have leant will surely be part of us and we will always remember today,' Molefe said.For the Head of Primary Sport of Sacred Heart College, Andre van der Merwe, the visit of the Nigerian national school champion was a welcome development for the school, especially the basketball team, adding that it would really motivated the pupils to aim high in the game.'For the pupils, I think they were excited working with the champions from Nigeria and from what I noticed, they are quite good in the game considering the kind of training they gave the junior team.'I look forward to them playing against our school team and I know they are going to give our team a tough challenge during the Youthfit tournament,' he said.According to the co-founder of Youthfit, Deborah Walter, the essence of the tournament was to encourage young people to embrace sports in its entirety, as there are lots of opportunities in sports.Walter told The Guardian yesterday that she was happy that the Adamawa team is part of the maiden edition of the championship, as they intend to involve more countries in the continent to be part of the championship, which would hold yearly.'When we set up the foundation, our intention was to encourage young people to embrace healthy living through physical exercise and it becomes imperative for sport to be part of our programmes. We also encourage young people not to see sports in terms of becoming athletes alone but to see the vast opportunities in it. In sports, young people can become administrators, marketers and writers.Also we have a website where we encourage young people to write about the sports they like and invariably we are building them to become sports writers,' Walter said.
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