Reliance Foundation’s Jr. NBA Program achieves the Milestone of reaching over 1.5 Million Youth in India
- NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum, Sacramento Kings Player Seth Curry and New York Knicks’ Robin Lopez attend the national finals at the Jaypee Greens Sports Complex -
- Over 2200 Schools, across 14 cities in India, participated in the program -
NOIDA, April 29, 2016 – The Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program, a comprehensive school-based youth basketball program has reached more than 1.5 million youth and has been in over 2,200 schools in India in 2015-16. NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum, Sacramento Kings guard Seth Curry and Robin Lopez of the Knicks visited the Jaypee Greens Sports Complex,Noida to celebrate this milestone. At the event, Seth and Robin hosted a basketball skills clinic for participants of the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA elite national camp.
Returning for the third consecutive year, the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program has nearly doubled its number of participating cities, expanding from 8 to 14. The program took place in Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Chennai, Delhi, Kochi, Kottayam, Kolkata, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Jaipur, Lucknow and Hyderabad from September 2015 to March 2016.
Robin Lopez at the Jaypee Greens elite camp
The Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program promotes health, fitness and an active lifestyle through basketball, and teaches the values of the game such as teamwork, sacrifice, discipline, dedication and sportsmanship. The program also features a combination of in-school and after-school activities along with basketball competitions.
The program consists of a Train the Trainer program for local coaches, in-school basketball sessions for children in grades 3-10, elite training camps, as well as Hot Shot 3-on-3 and 5-on-5 competitions. Each participating school receives essential equipment to encourage and facilitate participation among its students, including basketballs, whistles, air pumps and coaching guides. More than 15,000 basketballs and 300 basketball rims have been distributed to partner schools across India to facilitate access to the game.
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 traveled to India to support and participate in the Jr. NBA program.
About the Reliance Foundation
Reliance Foundation (RF) aims to play a catalytic role in addressing the nation’s development challenges through innovative and sustainable solutions with its focus in the areas of Rural Transformation, Education, Health, Sports for Development, Disaster Response, Urban Renewal, and Promotion and the protection of India’s Arts, Culture and Heritage. Smt. Nita M. Ambani is the Chairperson of Reliance Foundation and the guiding spirit behind the Foundation's ambitious vision of becoming the leading vehicle for social development, empowering the underprivileged and infusing social transformation in India. Reliance Foundation reaches out to over 5,500 villages and various urban locations across India.
The Reliance Foundation
About the NBA
The NBA is a global sports and media business built around three professional sports leagues: the National Basketball Association, the Women’s National Basketball Association, and the NBA Development League. The league has established a major international presence with offices in 13 markets worldwide, games and programming in 215 countries and territories in 47 languages, and NBA merchandise for sale in more than 125,000 stores in 100 countries on 6 continents. NBA rosters at the start of the 2014-15 season featured a record 101 international players from 37 countries and territories. NBA Digital’s assets include NBA.com and NBA Mobile, which achieved record traffic during the 2014-15 season, as well as NBA TV. The NBA is the No. 1 professional sports league on social media, with more than 850 million likes and followers globally across all league, team, and player platforms. Through NBA Cares, the league and its teams and players have donated more than $260 million to charity, completed more than 3.3 million hours of hands-on community service, and created more than 970 places where kids and families can live, learn, or play.