First Deepwater has finally conquered First Bank – Coach Ogunade

Coach, your team has just won the Zenith Bank Female Basketball league title for the third straight season. How did you manage to do it? First and foremost, I want to give thanks to God almighty. He is the one that made it possible. Secondly, I want to attribute it to hard work on the […]

Coach, your team has just won the Zenith Bank Female Basketball league title for the third straight season. How did you manage to do it?

First and foremost, I want to give thanks to God almighty. He is the one that made it possible. Secondly, I want to attribute it to hard work on the part of the players, the technical crew and the management of the team. Although we are the reigning champions, we have never rested on our oars. We worked hard to earn our third straight title.

Many people are of the opinion that your victory over former champions First Bank is as a result of the quality of players in First Deepwater.

It is not really so. Honestly, we did not have the kind of players we needed for this kind of competition. However the ones we have are very committed and they play to instructions. And when you play as a team, you get results, even if the players are not exceptional.

Despite retaining the trophy, First Deepwater lost the final match to First Bank. Don’t you think that defeat took the shine off your team?

It did to some extent. I blame that defeat on loss of concentration. Players sometimes lack concentration. We had discussed with them on what First bank is capable of doing. We knew they would not allow us to lead them like last season. They are always working hard to dethrone us. Therefore, we told them not to underrate them because the First Bank ladies are fast improving. However, on the day of the match, they took so many things for granted and that was how we lost. They let is too late and so even when they fought back, it was too late. Moreover, First Bank have taller players and they effectively used that advantage against us.

It appears First Deepwater has finally taken over from First Bank. How do you hope to sustain the tempo?

Yes we have by the grace of God. If we continue this way, First Bank will always be the second team to us. They will always come after us. We have taken over and though they have young players that are really improving, we have finally conquered them and they will always play the second fiddle. However, this is not to undermine the strength of First Bank and the other clubs. We have to keep working hard or else we would be dethroned as well.

How is the team preparing for the continental challenges?

We really need to start preparations right now because playing on the continent is not the same as the national league we have just won. We need to get few experienced players from within and outside the country to strengthen the team. We have to raise a team that can stand the heat at the continental championship. We need to add taller players in the team.

What is your take on the organization of the Zenith Bank Female Basketball league?

There is room for improvement. The Nigeria Basketball Federation needs to do more in the area of publicity. Most times we play in empty stadiums. It is only when we get to the finals, especially in Lagos that you can see seriousness. You see people coming to watch but in other phases, it is always so dry. We play and support ourselves because there are usually no spectators to cheer up the players.

Is it because everybody is following football?

Well, I don’t really think so. People watch basketball a lot but there is no sufficient awareness. The organizers publicize the competition in Lagos and you see a lot of people coming out to watch. They really need to do more in the area of publicity. I know that Nigerians love basketball as well.

As a former international, would you say the present standard of play is the same with what existed in your days?

I think some of the present day players are improving but in our time we had committed and dedicated players that were not easily distracted. We loved what we were doing. We did not play for money. We loved what we were doing and we wanted success always. Now players are easily distracted because they lack concentration. They think of so many things and do not want to concentrate. As a coach, it’s hard to get players to concentrate. It is really difficult coaching and getting the players to concentrate.