Chad Posthumus, Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson, Junior Sesay Announced as Manitoba NPH Showcase Camp Instructors

A trio of Manitoba Basketball products have confirmed their roles as Camp Instructors for the NPH Showcase in Winnipeg, taking place August 19-20th at Red River College

Junior Sesay, Chad Posthumus, and Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson have all committed their time and effort to camp, and will take the opportunity to coach up the next generation of Manitobans (Grade 8-12) on what it takes to play and work at the next level.

Junior Sesay

Sesay, out of Oak Park high school, now plays at the University of Winnipeg; he was aided on his journey in basketball by a multitude of people in the Manitoba basketball community, and would not have elevated to where he is today without the help of his strong network, and work ethic.

Sesay’s high school coach John Lundgren impacted his career early on, in terms of key messages that Sesay keeps with him today.

“Always striving to get better. Being a good student athlete and becoming a better person as well,” explained Sesay, of the principles he took from Lundgren.

These are messages that coincide directly with the NPH Showcase National camp circuit, which will help student-athletes maximize their potential on and off the floor.

“I work really hard and was in the gym whenever I could be, because it helped me be the best that I could when I competed against players from different provinces or from within Manitoba,” said Sesay.

Chad Posthumus

Chad Posthumus was a dominant force in Manitoba high school basketball, averaging 39 points, 25 rebounds, and 7 blocks at River East Collegiate in Winnipeg.

From there, Posthumus would head to the University of British Columbia for a season before making his way across the border to continue his collegiate career, first at Howard College in Texas, and then to Morehead State in Kentucky, a NCAA Division 1 program, where he lead the nation in offensive rebounding.

His entire career, Posthumus has distinguished himself on the floor with effort and intensity–these intangibles are rare and will be a big part of his delivery to campers.

The 6’11” centre has played professionally in Japan and Argentina before coming back to Canada to join the National Basketball League of Canada, where he has played with the London Lightning and Island Storm.

Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson

CIS All-Canadian Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson is a Winnipeg product, who played for the University of Calgary, where he lead the Dinos in scoring, rebounds, assists, and steals during his final season. From there the 5’10” point guard made his way to Portugal to begin his professional career, signing with Galitos Barreiro last year. He averaged 14.8 points, 4 assists, 3.1 rebounds and 1.2 steals a game during his rookie season.

For Ogungbemi-Jackson, the landscape of Manitoba basketball was completely different during his time in Winnipeg, and competition against high-level talent and exposure were much harder to come by.

“I would always just play outside with my friends and my brothers,” said Ogungbemi-Jackson. “As I started to become more competitive, getting into high school and building my resume a bit, finding exposure was difficult. We didn’t really have Showcases or anything like that at that time, so I feel like if you really wanted to get your name out there, you had to do it all on your own, you had to make your own mixtapes and contact coaches yourself.”

JOJ represented Manitoba on the provincial team, and played with the university national team.

“Today I feel  it’s a bit different, with a lot of these club teams going down to the States, and having a Showcase like this is a great opportunity for the kids to really show their worth in front of good coaches, while getting good instruction.”

However, the Winnipeg native knows the nature of basketball in Manitoba has changed since he moved on, and notes the other provinces have made names for themselves in terms of the talent they are putting on the court. The dominant Ontario teams at the National Championships have taken a back seat to teams from coast to coast, most recently the U15 and U17 Nova Scotia teams who took home this years’ trophies.

“To be honest, after my graduating class, I was naive. I thought that was one of their better classes in the past few years, but recently I know they’ve done really well at Provincials, we’ve been growing a lot,” said Ogungbemi-Jackson.

 

Emmanuel Akot and Daniel Sackey are headliners for the Manitoba NPH Showcase, and spearhead the upcoming wave of talent within the province–two national team members that will be NCAA bound.

@emman_akot & @dsackey_4 will both be in attendance for the Manitoba @NPHShowcase there will definitiely be HIGH Level talent. @basketballmb

— Armaan Ahluwalia (@Armaan_NPH) August 15, 2016

“There are guys who are representing Canada from Manitoba at various levels. I feel basketball is still growing in this province, and that’s huge. Obviously Ontario has a great crop of basketball players, and so does out East and out West, but Manitoba gets left out sometimes.”

With the consistent production of the provincial program over the last half decade, along with success of players like those mentioned above, the province is making their mark on the national stage.

Basketball Manitoba, the provincial body has been crucial in the implantation of a culture that has produced the necessary building blocks for the growth of the game at the junior, club, high school and national level.

“I feel like over the past few years it has changed, and coaches are starting to look here, and players are starting to make a name for themselves elsewhere, it’s exciting to see,” said Ogungbemi-Jackson.

🏀 @NPHShowcase all over 🇨🇦 #GameSpeakshttps://t.co/kTJb4Z9ZFf
🍁 ONT
🍁 MANITOBA
🍁 SASK
🍁 ALBERTA
🍁 BC
🍁 QUEBEC pic.twitter.com/7giaY33a97

— NorthPoleHoops (@NPHShowcase) August 4, 2016

All three of these Manitoba products (Sesay, JOJ, Posthumus) are local examples of what it takes to get to the next level in basketball, not only in Canada, but Internationally. Campers will learn first-hand what it takes become a pro, on and off the floor.

“The most important thing I can tell these kids is that they have to have the mentality that no one is going to work harder than you, that’s how I approach my professional career, that no one can out work me,” said Ogungbemi-Jackson.

“If there’s one thing they can take from this, that’s it.”