Ahead of the Sprite Ball Championship tenth anniversary, Point Guard of the University of Ghana Male Basketball Team Joel Tham has taken time out to share his experiences playing in one of West Africa’s biggest high school basketball competition.
Speaking to Ghanafans.com, the third year Sociology and Geography student expressed varied feelings after competing in two editions of the championship for Presbyterian Boys Senior High School (PRESEC-Legon) which included a finals loss to Keta Senior High School in the 2014 edition. He said:
“I played in two sprite ball championships which was form 2 in 2013 and form 3 in 2014. During my time there, we won the inter schools and super zonals but unfortunately we placed 2nd in the Sprite Ball.”
On my part, I thought my teammates were scared because it was a final. The energy and crowd in a final is something you will never see or experience at the group stages or on the knockout stages except the final… we faced a more experienced Ketasco team who had the pedigree of reaching like three finals in the previous years. We lost by 4 points”.
Tham has played a major role in helping UG win multiple titles including the Universities, Colleges and Polytechnics (UPAC) and All Africa University Games basketball tournaments respectively. The side’s impressive showing in the year culminated in a Team of the Year Award at the 2016 Ghana Basketball Awards.
The Sprite Ball Championship is organized by sports firm Rite Sports Limited.
Tham (second from left) with PRESEC at Sprite Ball.
Captain Sedem Tettevi led Keta to the 2014 Sprite Ball Title.
