Manut Bol Court at Juba University main campus entered a busy mode as Deng Academy entered its third week of training, with kids showing their young, untapped talents.
Speaking to the City Review on Monday, Coach Tony Opira Salvatore, the trainer of Mini Basketball at the Deng Academy, praised the trainees, saying there is a bright future for talented children.
“The kids are very amazing. We have seen the future of these new kids based on the experience from 2015 when they started coaching under-12-year-old kids in Manut Bol Court (University of Juba),” Salvatore stressed.
He said since that time, compared to now, these kids have really learnt a lot in sports, education, and other life challenges.
Salvatore said that the new kids are hopefully going to get the same advanced knowledge as long as parents continue to allow them to attend basketball training.
“These young kids go through some difficulties. Sometimes it is the whole family, but sometimes it is just that parents don’t even care to give them support in sports. It is not easy to understand them until we, as parents and mentors, start following their lives, “he narrated.
According to him, some of those kids arrived at the academy without proper basketball shoes or jerseys for training, but someone can now notice that they genuinely enjoy playing this sport.
He urged parents to help the academy fulfil the basic needs of these children, both in sports and education and in other ways of life, saying they hold the key to the future.
According to the registrar at Deng Academy, John Oliha, basketball training at the academy started two weeks ago, with a lot of new kids starting fresh.
“The total number is about 35 unregistered and still coming.” And all the new kids are under 18 years of age. Of the 35 new players, girls make up 13 per cent of the total, and we believe that many will keep coming due to the impressiveness of the girls’ first-ever league in Juba called, “HER TIME League.”
Mr Oliha revealed that the registration for the new kids will start in the first week of February 2022.
He continued by saying that the ‘‘development league in 2021 finished well, and we are planning to celebrate it soon.’’
The Deng Academy registrar stated that “the reason why it took us so long to celebrate early this year is that we have been interrupted by COVID-19 issues since we started the league in July 2021, and there were three leagues last season for boys under 21 and under 17, plus a girls’ first-time league in Juba.”
That’s why it took us so long to arrange the awards ceremony, but we are working on it. So, all the players and their parents should not worry.