By Zanau Hassan


Growing up, we were naturally inclined to play football. One of the very reason is the fact that you don’t need much to play them, all that is required is anything roundly shaped. Therefore, we have used several materials to form ball, from socks formed into ball to, polythene bags gathered together and formed into ball, to kwallon goruba, to oranges especially, lemon which is very thick and hardly breaks. The pitch can also be everywhere, from the bed to sitting room, veranda, frontage, backyards etc. football was just it, anyhow, anytime and under any condition.

That wasn’t the same story with basketball, especially if you don’t grow up where there is a basketball court close to you. Most times, you have to walk long distances to where you can play basketball. For me most of the courts were just too far away from my house and so, I had to pay my way to and trek bag home.
Growing up in Jalingo, there are only basketball courts and they include 1. Afolahan square, 2. FGGC Jalingo (former science school) and 3 College of Education (ATC) Jalingo.

 Out of the 3 Afolahan square was the most active with players and balls and a fairly good court and rim. Somehow, it was always difficult to find basketballs around, they somehow seem too expensive for us unlike football where you can find a diverse variety and even if you cannot buy, you can always make one to play with it.

In football, there is always a community spirit attached to it, which is missing in basketball. While growing up in Bekaji Yola. One day my dad saw me and my friends sitting idle and he asked, why are we not playing and we said there is not football. He then gave us ten naira to go and buy one. We all trekked to Jimeta main market from Bekaji passing through Airforce base into the market to buy the ball. Since my dad was the sponsor, I had to keep the ball and bring it out daily to be played. Same thing happened in Mayo Gwoi Jalingo where Dr & Mrs Jankade sponsored our community team buy giving us their land as our home pitch, bought jerseys and balls for us. Where there are no sponsors, we all task ourselves to buy football and play.

Today, I was invited to go and watch a game organized by my friend Coach Ahmadu Abba (Maboo) at the Taraba Motel Basketball court. Ahmadu Abba  (Maboo) has been trying hard to keep the spirit of the game alive in Jalingo. Today, he told me of those he has trained over the years and have gone to represent the country at the international stage as well as those who have gained international scholarships I because of playing basketball.

 Today, Ahmadu Abba (Maboo) is running a Basketball Academy that is geared towards raising young talents and creating interest for the game in Jalingo.
While, I was watching the game, my mind was roaming with thoughts and raising questions like: “why can’t we have community basketball teams in Jalingo?”. In football, we had street club sponsored and supported by the community, why can’t that happen in basketball? The number of basketball courts have so far increased to 6 or 7 in number which includes: 1. Taraba Motel, 2. Jolly Nyame stadium has 2, 3. TSU, 4. FGGC Jalingo, 5. Govt Science School Jalingo, 6. Technobat Estate mile 6.

 These communities can be encouraged to state basketball teams and develop local talents and grow the sport in Jalingo and that way create more interest in the game by attracting community sponsorships and support. These will also inspire many others to begin to consider building more basketball courts in Jalingo.

There is a lot we can do to support the game in Jalingo such as buying more balls, sponsor coaching programmes for communities, building new basketball courts in areas where there are none at the moment and sponsoring local competitions. In view of that, I call on all veterans of the game to support this campaign and make BASKETBALL A COMMUNITY SPORT.