Runhouse-Hoops Project lands two big prospects

Excitement was in the air this weekend at our camp in Cape Coast, Ghana when our latest two prospects arrived for play. Both are 15 years old and are 6′ 7′ and 6′ 10″. Both players are very excited to play against top level competition which can only be achieved in the USA or in Europe.
The staff at Runhouse is currently looking for the best possible situation for them. For more details contact Jack Whitehead, Director of International Recruiting, at jwhitehead@runhouse.net
(Pictured also is Coach Claude Thompson.)

ORU basketball signs Ghana native

Ghana native Chris Angsomwine has signed a national letter of intent to play basketball at Oral Roberts next season, coach Scott Sutton announced Wednesday.A 6-9, 215-pound forward at Kilgore (Texas) College, Angsomwine is ORU’s first 2010 signee. He will have two years of eligibility when he enrolls next fall.“Chris fills a significant need for us for the future,” Sutton said in a statement. “With (current senior) Kevin Ford graduating at the end of the year, we wanted to try and get the best athletic big man we could find and Chris certainly fits the bill.”Angsomwine is in his first year with the Rangers after spending last season at Harcum College in suburban Philadelphia. Kilgore is 2-0 with Angsomwine averaging 6.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.“He’s a shot blocker who can rebound,” Sutton said. “Chris is not a great scorer yet, but his offensive game is improving. He’ll get better this year while playing at a top quality program and be ready to contribute next year.”As a freshman at Harcum, Angsomwine averaged 1.2 points and 1.9 rebounds in 15 games.

Chris Angsomwine commits to Oral Roberts

Chris Angsomwine, 6′ 9″ Forward, verbally commits to Oral Roberts University.Kilgore, Texas - 6 October 2009 - Angsomwine has made the verbal commitment to become a student athlete at Oral Roberts University next season after completion of his Associates Degree at Kilgore Junior College. Angsomwine was one of the first players to come through our Runhouse-Hoops Project that we run in conjuction with Claudius Thompson of Cape Coast Hoops.Sources close to the ORU staff think Chris Angsomwine has a chance to be a outstanding player in their system. He’s an athletic big guy that can run, has a good skill level and a strong body to defend and block shots. Chris has a tremendous upside. He is a great student and will be a great fit for the ORU campus & the Tulsa community

6′ 8″ Atsu Atakpa signs with Paul Quinn

6′ 8″ Atsu Atakpa has decided to leave Casper College and play for Coach Marco Borne at Paul Quinn. Atakpa is the second Runhouse-Hoops player to transfer from Casper College joining Daniel Armah out.Coach Borne is counting on “Big Jake” to bring some inside scoring punch to his revamped team. Paul Quinn plays in the very tough Red River Conference of NAIA Div 1

Armah dazzles at Juco Showcase

Daniel Armah, aka “The Accra Assassin”, got a chance to show Lakeland’s coach Cedric Brown his skills recently at Rick Ball’s Juco Showcase in Chicago.
Armah not only was the leading rebounder but also finished as the 3rd leading scorer. Coach Brown was very pleased with his newest recruit and has alot of confidence in his ability.
Speaking with Coach Brown last week also revealed that Armah has had a growth spurt and is now a legitimate 6′ 7″. When asked about the growth Armah simply replied “I hope I grow to 6′ 8″. We hope you grow as well Dan and feel confident you will have a breakout season with Lakeland

Hoops thrashed Ghana Fire Service 69 - 53

Cape Coast Hoops on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008 won against the Ghana Fire Service team 69-53. The game is in continuation of the Greater Accra Armature Basketball League which was played at Lebanon House, Tudu Accra. Highlights of the day saw two dunks from Saykan Bestman and a monster dunk from Michael DadsonThe game was a must win for Hoops who had earlier lost to the braves of CEPS and Yotive the week before. Hoops lost to Yotive 70-67 and on Sept. 10 lost to Braves of Ceps 101-63. The match against Ceps was a very physical one which saw two Hoops players sustaining cuts they receive from the CEPS players. With the victory against Fire, the team now has two wins and three defeats. Players in the team are confident of wining their remaining matches against Police, Wizards, Flames, and Warrior to make it for the playoffs. Presently some of the players on on camp in Cape Coast training for the match against Police this coming Saturday. Fans should expect nothing less than massive victories in the remaining matches.

Video Hoops vs. Fire
Video Hoops vs CEPS

Chris Angsomwine arrives at Harcum College

6′ 9″ Chris Angsomwine has arrived at Harcum College. Chris has promised to have a very productive year for Harcum and wants his countrymen back in Ghana to follow along online. He stated that one of his goals is to make Hoops proud of his achievements both on and off the court.

Chris spent the weekend with his new teammates and coach and has adjusted well to life in the USA. He is especially fond of the food at the school and said he can’t wait to try an authentic Philadelphia cheesesteak.

Three Hoopers players chosen for Ghana U-16 final 15 list

Three players who were formally in the JV team of Hoops and than promoted to the developmental team, Hoopers were yesterday the 23rd of July 2008 selected among the final 15 players to begin training for an upcoming youth U-16 basketball tournament to be held in Nigeria. The justification was held at the basketball court of Prison Barracks in Cantonment, Accra. There were close to forty youth players who turn out for the screening. Five coaches from various teams in the Div 1 were also present as judges. The boys were divided into a team of five members each and their skills, discipline, athleticism and over all performances judge by the coaches present. Three of the successful players are from Cape Coast and they are Andrew Tetteh (F-93), Emmanuel Aikins(G-92) and Dominic Clement(G-92). The three will join other successful players this Monday to begin training for the upcoming Event in Nigeria

18th Edition of Cabalan Thome Memorial Basketball Tournament

Followers of basketball in Ghana knows all about this tournament. It is here all rivalries are out to the test as teams from the Division I league face each other in a 7 - 14 days basketball explosion. This year will not be left out as the 18th Edition kick off Saturday, 26th of July at 3PM at the Lebanon House and the final will be play Aug 13 at 3PM same venue. The draw for the tournament took place on the 22nd of this month with two group of male teams and one group for the females. Visit main site for the Groupings. Group B seems to be the Group of Death. Two teams will qualify from each group for the semifinal stage. Keep coming back for more info on the fixture, results, photos and videos of the tournament. The league is expected to resume on August 15. All matches which were to be played between Aug. 2 - Aug 14 are set as outstanding matches.

Daniel Armah spends weekend in Philly

Dan was the guest this weekend to Jack Whitehead, Director of International Recruiting, Runhouse.com. He flew in from new York where he is spending the summer holidays with his uncle. Dan was happy to meet Jack who was instrumental in getting him to the USA to play for Casper College in Wyoming. Upon his short visit, Dan was able to meet other dignitaries in Philly and was also interview by a newspaper journalist. The Philly’s Triple Threat, an U14 team run by Mr. Whitehead were the most excited ones to have Dan run the floor with them. The kids took a sudden liken to him and ask for a lot of advices on how they can better their game to play like him. He advised that they take their training seriously and always listen to their coaches instruction. He also told them he was excited to meet them as was his wish since entering the USA in February of this year. The kids promised to be in touch with Dan by email and follow his games once the 2008-2009 collegiate season starts. We too will keep you updated as we follow the journey of this player from Casper to higher heights. Hoops on Fire!!!
http://www.capecoasthoops.net

Another Ghanaian b'baller for the USA

HOOPS has once again being instrumental in helping another Ghanaian baller to have his dreams of playing basketball in USA realised. This time, Ibrahim Salih. Salih is an ultra athletic wing player with an NBA ready body. An excellent student and a leader among his peers, Ibrahim is a great addition to our extramural program. Salih will arrive in Los Angeles on June 6th along with Bebe Vargas (Dominican Republic), Waldo Estevez, Kelvin Coplin (Dominican Republic), Zsolt Lakosa (Hungary), Adam Hajer (Hungary)and Francisco Luano (Angola). These are other students athletes who were selected from other countries around the world to take part in a special program organized by Tom Mott of the USA. We are living the dream of promoting young talented African ballers to play over seas. We will keep you updated on the progress of Ibrahim as he takes America by storm. We are still looking for young talented players for our program. Contact us if you have what it takes. HOOPS on Fire, baby!!!

Launching of Western Basketball Association

This past Saturday saw a big development in the basketball section of Ghana. The Western Region was able to inaugurate their basketball association in the capital of the region, Takoradi. This shows that Ghanaians who love the sport are trying the best to remove it from what is term as other sports and have it compete with the nation most love sport soccer. Six teams where present to grace the occasion of the first tournament being organize by the WBA. The teams included from the Western Region, Dream Team and WBA; from the Central Region, HOOPS and DONS; from the Greater Accra Region, After 7 and last but not the least, from the Ashanti Region, Slizzers. The preliminary games where played at the military baracks in the morning. The games began at 8AM and the following teams where drawn against each other from ballot. Dream Team vs WBA, HOOPS vs DONS and Slizzers vs After 7. Winners emerging from the first round of matches were Dream Team, DONS and After 7. These three qualified for the second stage which was the semifinal. Slizzers qualifued as the fourth team as they emerged best loosers having score one point above that of HOOPS.

DONS and Slizzers won their matches and advanced to the Final which was played at the GSTS grounds in the afternoon. At the GSTS grounds the first match was played between two female sides which was very exciting. later the third place was played between After 7 and Dream Team which the Dream team won. Than came the final, DONS vs Slizzers. This match proved to be a earth shaking one as both sides went all out from the begining of the blast of the whistle. The experience side of the Slizzers took the day against the other side of one of Ghana most celebrated basketball player known as MeMe.

The main event of the day was the dinner. This was held at the newly built Sekondi Stadium which was one of the stadia that was used during the 2008 MTN African Cup of Nations. Speakers at the event praised all involved and also give some words of advice for the youth, as well as the elderly still in the game. Than came the eating time which was great as the food was at its best and the boys ate heartfully. This shows that basketball in Ghana is moving forward and nobody will stop it. We encourage all other regions to copy the western Region to beef up the
game in Ghana

basketball in Ghana

Basketball is love by many students in Ghana. But it is a shame that the sport is not given the necessary attention as soccer. In schools you find a lot of kids playing the sports with passion. Another reason might be that the school authorities are not really employing coaches to bring these kids up. As a result they learn the hard way and not the fundamental way. From these back drop, HOOPS was born, a basketball club in Cape Coast Ghana with the sole aim of changing the face of the game in Ghana, Africa and the world as a whole. Presently the club is one year and has achieve a lot among the youths of Cape Coast as HOOPS is presently a household name. The club has grown from a few members to a variety of members all over the country. presently we even have promoted a player who is presently playing in the college league in the USA through the HOOPS Extramural program which is being organize to assists athletic scholars to be able to have their dream come true by playing basketball in the USA. We hope that by doing this people will than see the potential basketball can bring in Ghana. We will keep you updated to basketball news in Ghana as it comes. Note that more info can be found on our website at www.capecoasthoops.com As the site is mainly use for the team news and info we will use this blog to cover other basketball stories and news as they come. Come back for more. Thanks