NBA star Chris Bosh expected in Ghana on July 10

NBA Star Chris Bosh will arrive in Ghana on Thursday July 10 for the second edition of the Sprite Ball Clinic, organizers have confirmed.

Bosh, who plays for Miami Heat, will spend five days in the West African country between July 10-14, 2014 where he will interact with players and officials in the continuation of the promotional drive.

The 30-year-old, who will be joined by a delegation from NBA Africa, will have discussions with the Ghana Basketball Association, participate in player clinics and familiarize themselves with the current status of the growing sport in the country.

The first session will take place on Friday July 11 at the Aviation Social Centre in Accra from 1pm where players drawn from the Greater Accra region will be exposed to some new basketball knowledge by Chris Bosh and the NBA Africa team.

The team will then move to Cape Coast on Saturday for a similar exercise at Adisadel College to assess the level and shared knowledge.

The two-day event forms part of a screening exercise to select a player to represent the country at the 2014 Basketball Without Borders programme in South Africa in August this year.  Talented Ghanaian youngster Philip Osafo, who attended Kings College in Kumasi, participated in the annual event last year after impressing during the maiden edition of the Sprite Ball Clinic in Ghana.

Chris Bosh visit follows last year’s edition with Chicago Bulls Luol Deng and former Toronto Raptors player Pops Mensah-Bonsu.

There is tremendous potential for basketball success in Ghana and the clinic will provide the NBA with an opportunity to evaluate the level of talents in the country.

The visit of the Chris Bosh will inspire the basketball community to pursue excellence on the court and other field of endeavours.

This visit is made possible by the collaborative effort of Coca- Cola Company, NBA Africa, the Ghana Basketball Association and enabled by Rite Multimedia.

NBA Africa is collaborating with their local partners Coca-Cola and the Ghana Basketball Association to bring you the 2014 Sprite Ball Clinic, which is organized by Rite Multimedia.

Brief history

A high school “Mr. Basketball” in Texas, Bosh left college at Georgia Tech after one season with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets men’s basketball team to enter the 2003 NBA Draft. He was selected fourth overall by the Toronto Raptors in a very competitive draft class that included multiple future NBA superstars such as LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Carmelo Anthony. While at Toronto, Bosh emerged as one of the young stars in the league; he became a five-time NBA All-Star, was named to the All-NBA second team once, appeared for the US national team (with whom he won a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics), and supplanted former fan-favorite Vince Carter as the face and leader of the Raptors franchise. He won his second title in 2013 as the Heat defeated the San Antonio Spurs in the 2013 NBA Finals.

Bosh has a unique and timeless skill set that could make him one of the best power forwards in the league well into the twilight of his career.