Former NBA player Pops Mensah-Bonsu is set to return to Ghana for the third annual Pops 100 Camp. Powered by the Sports for Education and Economic Development (SEED) Academy Ghana, the two-day intensive basketball camp is slated for both elite and grassroots male and female basketball student-athletes.
In all, 100 top players from across Ghana have been selected to attend the Pops 100 Camp which will allow players to develop and enhance critical basketball skills, such as ball handling, passing, shooting form and defense with Pops Mensah-Bonsu. The event will continue with games, development and life skills sessions and a closing awards ceremony with special invited guests.
According to organisers of the event, the primary goal of The Pops 100 Camp and Seed Academy Ghana is to develop the next generation of African leaders through education and basketball while creating a sustainable, scalable basketball culture that will cultivate and inspire the next generation of Ghanaian youth.
“The third annual Pops 100 Camp is my gift to Ghanaian youths, and will allow us to be at the forefront of cultivating the rich yet hidden basketball societies that permeate sports culture in Ghana. The camp will provide a platform for young, untapped Ghanaian basketball talent that can ultimately alter the course of many lives,” shares Mensah-Bonsu, who was one of only three Ghanaians to play professionally in the NBA. He also played in clubs in the European leagues and represented Great Britain as a member of Team GB at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
The SEED Academy was launched in 2002 in Senegal by the current Basketball Africa League, and NBA Africa President, Amadou Gallo-Fall, was the first basketball student-athlete academy in Africa. Subsequently, the Ghana Division of SEED Academy was launched by Mensah-Bonsu in 2018, and works in partnership with the Ghana Basketball Association to help support and enhance the development of basketball, coaching and infrastructure for the sport in the country as well as mentor, coach, and signpost future basketball talents.
“The game of basketball has taken me around the world and allowed me to develop into a leader with integrity and honour; and it has been pivotal in the major successes I have experienced in my life. It is now time for me to reciprocate and invest in Ghana’s next generation,” adds Mensah-Bonsu, who is currently President of Basketball Operations for G-League’s Westchester Knicks.
The Pops 100 Camp, Powered by Seed Academy Ghana, will be held 29th – 30th December in Accra, Ghana.
