A 3-on-3 basketball tournament was Saturday held at the YMCA basketball court for junior schools’ students, organised by Ascend Together, an organisation that seeks to create opportunities for youths in The Gambia through sports, especially in the area of basketball.
The organisation’s programmes focus on academic commitment, leadership, teamwork, development, discipline and punctuality.
Binto Dambely, a student of St Therese’s Upper Basic School said she was very happy to take part in the tournament, saying she learnt a lot. The teenager told Observer Sports that she has been playing the game for two years now and looks forward to pursuing her career as a basketball athlete.
Isatou Tall, a student from Apple Tree International said she was participating in such basketball tournament for the first time. According to her, she loves the game and thanks the organisers for having the foresight to stage such tournament. She promised to continue training to better understand and improve in the game.
Alyson Lush, Ascend Together’s Programme Manager, said their association with basketball began through the efforts of several former United States Peace Corps Volunteers who were very much involved in youth basketball during their time in The Gambia, through partnership with The Gambia Basketball Association, schools, youth organisations and other relevant organisations across the country.
“We are currently implementing a project called Rise Gambia. This programme involves 120 upper basic students (60 male and 60 female) from six schools in the Kombos, such as St. Therese’s, Ndows, Latrikunda UBS, Apple Tree, Kotu and SOS. They started sessions on January 18th and been running the sessions with students since that date,” she said.
She expressed delight for the improvement in the kids going by the skills demonstrated during the tournament.
by Fatou Gassama
