The North West Basketball Federation (NWBF) is calling on parents to register their children living with disabilities for the upcoming Oshana Wheelchair Basketball Development Programme.

The orientation programme which is scheduled for Saturday, 21 May 2022, will focus on the introduction of the sport of wheelchair basketball.

In an interview with Nampa on Thursday, NWBF president Isaac Nailenge said the orientation will focus on children from Grade 1 to Grade 11 who are currently based in the Oshana Region.

“The idea of this orientation is to identify talented kids who will form part of the Oshana wheelchair basketball team. We got information from the education ministry that there are about 100 kids who are in wheelchairs but thus far, we only got 20 kids that are interested in the event,” said Nailenge, who added that they are planning on assembling a bigger pool of wheelchair basketball players.

Nailenge stated that the NWBF would also like to do outreach programmes in the different northern towns.

“At the moment we want to raise awareness of wheelchair basketball, therefore we would like to go to other towns with mobile hoops and host clinics for these athletes so that they understand the sport of wheelchair basketball,” said Nailenge.

He said the upcoming Basketball Development Programme will focus on children within the Oshana Region and the towns of Oshakati, Ongwediva and Okapana. Parents or guardians living with children who are wheelchair users are urged to contact 0816257810 to enrol their children.

The event on Saturday will be held at the Caribbean tennis courts (behind Pama Pharmacy complex) from 15h00 until 17h00.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency