The National Basketball Association (NBA) organized grassroot basketball initiative got tremendous response in the city of Oranges. In the opening day of NBA India’s comprehensive youth basketball initiative a day-long Skills Challenge event was conducted by the organizers of World Best Basketball League in America. Around 820 players in both the boy’s and girls’ categories participated and went through five set of skills designed by the experienced coaches of the NBA. The grassroot development initiative for the school going boys and girls of Nagpur was a part of the Reliance Foundation Jr.NBA program. The Nagpur District Basketball Association (NDBA) provided all the local support for the event.
The Skills Challenge was conducted by NBA India coach Phil Calvert, who is an accomplished and focused educational professional with over 10 years of experience in coaching. After briefing the local coaches on the set of skills to be tested, Cavet was observing and guiding the amateur and established players assembled at the Nagpur University courts.
School students from over 60 schools participated in the event which was conducted in three age categories (U-10, U-12 and U-14). The best performers in all the age categories of Skills Challenges were also rewarded by Team T-shirts of various professional NBA teams. All the participants were given completion certificates of the Skills Challenge. Secretary of the NDBA Bhavesh Kuchanwar, joint secretary Narendra Katole and former national player Hemant Balbudhe also attended the event.
The Nagpur local coaches who assisted during the camp include Mahesh Gaherwar, Manoj Rakshak, Sunil Sharma, Ayush Agrawal, Dhiraj Kadao, Vinay Chikate, Sandip Selukar, Prajwal Choudhary, Sagar Vaishnav, Amit Chaurasia, Rohit Shende, Rishabh Chaudhary and others.
From Wednesday matches in the Under-14 category will be played at Nagpur university courts from 9am onwards. The best performers in all the categories were felicitated by NBA India coach Phil Calvert and NDBA Secretary Bhavesh Kuchanwar.
BEST PERFORMERS
UNDER-14:-
Girls: Dhara Phate (BVM Trimurti Nagar) 81 points; Sameeksha Chandak (BVM Trimurti Nagar) 78 points; Swastika Datta (Delhi Public School Kamptee Road) 71 points
Boys: Harsh Gandhi (Priyadarshini Nagpur Public School) 76 points; Gaurav Tiple (Narayana Vidyalayam) 72 points.
UNDER-12
Boys: Shlok Dudhmogre (Hadas CBSE School) 79 points; Yash Mehta 76 points Girls: Soniya Nimbalkar (Saraswati Vidyalaya) 64 points; Kiya Rampuriya 73 points; Astha Chellani (BVM Trimurti Nagar 73 points)
UNDER-10
Boys: Shanay Shrewat (St Gianelli Convent Kamptee) 63 points; Girls: Sanvi Pelne (K John Public School) 51 points; Rani Uparkar (Hadas CBSE) 62 points.
