Is Rhythm and Rims Raising The Bar?
Even though it has been the most consistent league in the country, there's no arguing that the Accra Basketball League has lacked the growth and development required to keep both fans and players interested in the game. Many tournaments and leagues have sprung up over the years in an attempt to provide a more exciting alternative that would raise the standard of play while still keeping fans attached to the sport. |
| Cape Coast vs Ashaiman on match day two |
That wave hasn't just been in Accra; Tamale had a short league a couple of years ago, Takoradi had a league running for a couple of years and Kumasi has the XBL now which is attracting hoop fans to various venues every week. Yaw Sakyi and his Rite Multimedia team over the past decade have also organized various tournaments for young players all over the country.
"We do not have a problem making the trip every week if this standard is going to be maintained", said Claudius Thompson, head coach of the Cape Coast team, "When we played in the Accra League, you didn't even know what you were playing for and my team was the second best team in the league for a couple of years", continued the man whose Cape Coast Hoops were once the most exciting team to watch in the country. If you're not sure yet, he's talking about the now rush! Community Basketball Tournament which has been going on at the Accra Polytechnic basketball court every Sunday afternoon for the past three weeks.
The tournament put together by Gametime Entertainment is a 10 week, 10 team league for seniors with teams from Cape Coast to Tema boasting a $3000 price for the winning team. The tournament has attracted a host of the nation's top players, a bunch of who play in the Accra League already. I've definitely heard more than one player in conversation talk about they will quit the Accra League to play in this new league if it's going to happen in subsequent years.
I've been to all three game days and I wouldn't mind spending the rest of this year's Sunday evenings at the Accra Polytechnic basketball court(says a prayer to the rain gods to spare us on Sundays). This league so far has had the closest thing to the whole package we've ever seen in Ghana basketball. The timing, the music, the people, the dancers, the artistes(VVIP passed through yesterday), the hype, the players and most of all the organization has been remarkable so far. Another thing worth mentioning is the organizers' ability to get very well known brands to sponsor the event. It is a well known fact that it's not an easy task getting sponsorship deals for basketball events in Ghana especially one that includes a big brand like Adidas and rapidly growing company like rush! energy drink.
A few concerns have however been raised by members of the basketball community about the tournament, the chief of which has been if Gametime can maintain the high standards they're setting with this maiden event. "It's hard to commit to anything long term right now as most of what we are able to accomplish has everything to do with support from the community teams as well as sponsors. We are working hard to make both parties continue to believe in us. If this happens, the sky is the limit", Lewis Fadipe, head of the Gametime team responded when asked.
Please are they considering organising girls own too
ReplyDeleteany videos of the league please?
ReplyDelete