Basketball federation takes part in U17 skills challenge

THE Basketball Federation of Papua New Guinea (BFPNG) yesterday took part in the International Basketball Federation’s (Fiba) Under-17 skills challenge, an online skills contest with countries submitting live scores of times and points of their teams.
BFPNG executive officer Nick Daroa said the challenge was the first of its kind in many countries with Fiba introducing the concept in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The skills challenge is a five-station course where five players are tasked with completing the stations using basic skills of the game like passing, dribbling and shooting in their quickest times.
“Due to the Covid-19 lockdown, Fiba has come up with this initiative to get the U-17 competition going but in this form,” said Daroa at Sir John Guise Stadium in Port Moresby yesterday.
“Basically, we have about five countries from the Oceania and Asia.
“The things we worked on were speed and accuracy, so there was less time to execute all the stations.
“This is the new normal in basketball now.
“There won’t be any more five-a-side or three-on-three competitions until we can restore normalcy.
“So for now, this is what’s going to be happening.”
Daroa urged all coaches and players around the country to focus more on the basics of the game which he said was the key to identifying and developing young talents.