Opeyemi Babalola, the Chief Executive Officer of Webber Hoops and Courts has reemphasized his dream of pushing the game of basketball to every neighbourhood of Nigeria. The structural engineer best known in the sports circle as Webber shared canvas shoes and his goals with the youths as the Anthony Village Ballers 3×3 Face-off came to an end late on Sunday.
The event done in partnership with Soopermart and Nike is one in a series of events organized by the Nigerian basketball equipment manufacturing company.
Webber said, “We are doing this as our way of taking basketball to every corner of Nigeria. We love communities to bond like this and create fun with the game of basketball. We have started this and we are moving around places to create fun and keep the youths busy.
“We hope that we also have the continent of Africa doing this and this dream has seen us going to places like Morocco, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya and other places.
“And be sure that you guys will not just play and go home empty-handed tonight. There’s always something to go back home and for this event, there’s something special.”
The surprise of the day was the gift of brand new Nike shoes for 12 of the players who won in the Boys U14, Girls U14 and Boys 15 and above. There were no entries for the Girls 15 and above category. The canvas shoes were made available in conjunction with the Nike Store at the Ikeja City Mall. The winners and other players went home with various cash prizes.
The event in Anthony Village is one of the others held previously in Victoria Island and two centres in Abuja. The Webber Hoops and Court train is planned for more neighbourhoods in Lagos, Ilorin and other cities across Nigeria.
Webber manufactured all the equipment used in the competition ranging from the court to the upright, basketball racks, the trophies and the lightning.
