The five-hour programme came off on Saturday, October 15, 2022, at the University of Ghana Basketball Court in Accra.

Beneficiaries

About 200 beneficiaries selected from educational institutions and basketball academies participated in the clinic.

They were drawn from institutions such as Aburi Girls Senior High School, Chiefs Academy (Kumasi), St. Joseph's CYO, University of Ghana, Dunk! Grassroots, Basketball School Academy (BSA), Eagles Basketball Academy (Koforidua), Basketball Unite Academy, Hoops Care (Cape Coast) and Cedar Oak Basketball Academy.

The participants aged between 6-15 years were put through their paces with a warm-up, dribbling and shooting drills by the GBA while officials from the International Sickle Cell Centre, Ghana Anesthetists Association, (BC Medicals, RegEmp and Operation Smile Ghana taught the students about emergency life support skills.

In an interview on the sidelines of the clinic, the President of the GBA, Ato Van-Ess said the programme was geared towards whipping up interest among young girls in basketball.

He said his outfit was very much interested in helping Ghana meet Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 which concerns gender equality and SDG 3 which aims to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all.

"We want to use this programme to whip up the interest of girls to participate in basketball, this is part of a key strategy to develop the sport in Ghana," Mr Van-Ess said.

"We hope that in the next three to five years we will get more girls and women participating in basketball at the regional level".

He added that it was important for young children to know basic first aid skills so that they can respond adequately when there is an emergency at home, school or during sports.