National Basketball Association (NBA) the organizers of World Best Basketball League in America will conduct its comprehensive youth basketball initiative for three days in Nagpur from Tuesday (February 26). The NBA grass-root basketball initiative is for the school going boys and girls of Nagpur and is a part of the Reliance Foundation Jr NBA program.
The Nagpur District Basketball Association (NDBA) will provide all the local support for the grass-root development program organized by NBA India. In the opening day of the three day event the American association will make the school students in both the boys and girls’ category work out in a Skills Challenge at the twin courts of Nagpur University at Ravi Nagar on Tuesday.
On February 27 and 28, a two-day inter-school basketball championship for boys and girls will be organized at the Nagpur University courts. The NDBA will provide all the support of local coaches and officials for the matches. The skills challenge will be conducted by NBA India coach Phil Calvert, who is an accomplished and focused educational professional with over 10 years of experience in coaching.
Secretary of Nagpur District Basketball Association (NDBA) Bhavesh Kuchanwar has appealed to all the schools and physical education sports teachers to enthusiastically participate in the initiative of Reliance Foundation Jr NBA program. Bhavesh Kuchanwar said, “The event is free for all the participants and is a great opportunity for all the schools. The NBA India has given Nagpur a platform to showcase their talent and at the same time the event is a best grass-root opportunity to identify talented players that every school has. All the schools should enthusiastically participate in the skills challenge and also participate in the tournament”.
The Skills challenge will be conducted in three age categories (U-10, U-12 and U-14) boys and girls. The two-day knockout tournament will be played in the U-14 age group, i.e. players born in between September 1, 2004 to August 21, 2006 will be eligible to play. Even, last year, NBA had organized Skills Challenge. The two-day tournament will be the first time that NBA is organizing inter-school competition in Nagpur.
The international coaches of NBA will select a Nagpur team in both the boys and girls section which will participate in the Zonal Championship. From this Zonal Championship, a selected West Zone team will be picked for the Jr NBA India National Championship. The Jr NBA is the league’s youth basketball participation program that provides a fun environment for kids to learn the fundamentals and values of the game and the Skills Challenge is an initial initiative in that process.
The Jr. NBA is focused on helping grow and improve the youth basketball experience for players, coaches and parents, and offers a free curriculum covering all levels of the game that includes 48 practice plans and more than 250 instructional videos featuring NBA and WNBA players.
