Jr NBA Program to engage more than 1.5 million youth and coaches

Mumbai: In another step forward towards promoting basketball in India, Reliance Foundation and the National Basketball Association (NBA) announced on Wednesday that the Jr. NBA program, a comprehensive youth basketball initiative, expects to engage more than 1.5 million youngsters and 2,700 physical education instructors and coaches in 2015-16.

The program earlier tipped of at Goshala Municipal School with ‘Train the Trainers’ program on December 5.  On Wednesday the program was organised at Dominic Savio School with trainers from over private 100 schools participating.

Returning for the third consecutive year, the NBA program will increase the number of participating cities from eight to 14.  The venues include Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Chennai, Delhi, Kochi, Kottayam, Kolkata, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Jaipur, Lucknow and Hyderabad. The program will run from September this year to March next year.

“We are delighted that the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program is expanding to more cities and reaching more children,” said Reliance Foundation Head Jagannata Kumar.

“This program has used the sport of basketball to greatly impact the lives of Indian children.  We are grateful to the NBA for sharing their world-class expertise and resources, and to the schools, coaches and physical education instructors who continue to support this initiative.”

“The program continues our goal of providing Indian youth with a platform to stay active and learn the values of basketball, including leadership, teamwork, and healthy living,” said NBA India vice-president and managing director Yannick Colaco.

“On the heels of Sim Bhullar becoming the first player of Indian descent to play in the NBA and Satnam Singh becoming the first Indian-born player to be drafted into the NBA, children in India are as excited as ever about trying the game, and the growth of our program will ensure we get basketballs in the hands of even more boys and girls across the country.”

The program will include a ‘train the trainer’ initiative for local coaches, in-school basketball clinics, elite training camps and finals in each city featuring 3-on-3 and 5-on-5 competitions.

NBA International Basketball Operations staff will be based in each of the cities for three months to oversee the program.  Each participating school will receive essential equipment to encourage and facilitate participation among its students Also, each participating city will host three youth oriented basketball festivals for kids aged 6-10.

More than 1 million youth have participated in the program since its launch in 2013. In addition to this, NBA International Basketball Operations staff has trained more than 2,000 physical education teachers across the country.

NBA Legends Bruce Bowen and Muggsy Bogues, WNBA All-Stars Tamika Catchings and Swin Cash, and Sim Bhullar, the first player of Indian descent to play in the NBA, have all travelled to India to support and participate in the program.

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