Mbah a Moute’s Basketball Camp in Bamenda

Bamenda and the Northwest region will become the fifth centre in the country to welcome the Luc Mba a Moute’s Basketball camp to unearth young and promising basketball talents who could one day eventually benefit from a scholarship to play and study in the USA.

Regine Oum, PRO of the camp was in Bamenda on Tuesday April 28 where she hand out details of the upcoming camp to pressmen at a briefing at the regional delegation of sports and physical education Bamenda.

The camp she said will run from the 16-18 of May 2015 at the Bamenda Municipal Stadium for prospective youths from across the entire northwest.

It will be opened to youths and basketball players between the ages of 12 and 18 from basketball academies and schools. The children will take charge of their transportation and feeding for the three days camp in Bamenda, but those that will be preselected for the national camp at the Wada sports complex in Yaoundé will be taken charge of by the camp organizers.

The Most Valuable Player (MVP) from the Yaoundé come together will win a trip to South Africa for the African camp and from there a possible scholarship to study and play basket ball in the US.

The camp also envisages to pass on to the youths the basics of basketball, make basketball popular, and to gradually transform Cameroon into a great basketball nation and above all to offer a chance to young Cameroonins to pursue their dream of playing and studying in the US, and if possible, play in the best basketball league in the world, the NBA.

The Luc Mba a Moute’s camp is in its 5th year. It started in 2010 with only kids from Douala and Yaounde taking part. The camp took a step each year into a new region, spreading its tentacles to the Bafousam in the West, Buea in the South West and Maroua in the Far North and this year Bamenda in the Northwest.

The camp has already registered some huge successes since its inception in 2010 with seven Cameroonians haven successfully made it through to the US where they are now playing in the conference, college or NBA basketball leagues.

Michel Ange Enanga (University of Coastal Carolina), Luc Junior Tselan (George Town Prep High school) Maryland, Moute a Badias Roger Duclos (University of Carlifornia-Berkeley) and Landry Christ Nnoko student at University of Kansas qualified from the first camp in 2010 followed by William Tchiengan (West Oak Academy High school in Orlando Florida) and Joel Hans Embiid who now plays in the NBA for the Philadelphia Sixers with Luc Mba a Moute, passed out of the second camp.

With the coming of the camp to Bamenda, there are hopes that Basketball that is gradually gaining ground in the region were soccer in the king sport, and which recently saw its first basket team in the national league, Bamenda All Stars, win the cup of Cameroon, some great talents may be discovered to soon followed in the steps of Luc Mba a Moute.

Halle Joseph, Northwest regional basketball coach told me after the briefing that the northwest is endowed some gifted basketball talents and will not be surprise to see one of these kids making it all the way through.

Kids already playing in Basketball academies can registered at the regional delegations of sports and physical education Bamenda while those interested and out of Bamenda can turn up on the day of the camp for direct registration. Registration is free.

Born on September 9, 1986 in Yaounde, Luc Mbah hails from the locality of Bia Messe in the Centre Region of Cameroon. He is the son of the elected chief of that village and his father, Camille Mouté à Bidias is the manager of the National Employment Fund. Mbah a Moute is the twin brother of Emmanuel Bidias a Moute, who played basketball for Texas State University.

His younger brother, Roger Moute a Bidias, is a freshman for the California Golden Bears.

Mbah a Moute was discovered in a similar camp in Cameroon.