NBA set to launch Junior initiatives

The world’s biggest and most renowned basketball league are all set launch the Junior NBA and Junior WNBA programmes with the coaches clinic at the Dominic Savio High School in Mumbai on Monday and Tuesday. They will then move to Pune (March 17-18), Bangalore (March 21-22), Chennai (March 23-24) and Delhi (April 5-6).

The Bangalore leg of the clinic, for which a basketball operations’ staff member will travel to India and join Troy Justice (NBA Director of Basketball Operations in India), will be conducted at the Mount Carmel College, Vasanthnagar.

During the course of the clinic, coaches will be provided with fundamental skill development classes and a ‘box’ containing instruction material intended to improve their training methods on the sport.

Coming to the business end of the program, NBA have designed the skills challenge for boys and girls aged between 10 and 12 to identify new talent. The competition, starting from March 21 in Mumbai and Pune simultaneously, will test players’ ability in dribbling, passing, shooting and other nuances of the sport.

The challenge will begin with the local event where 100 schools — 400 participants — from five centres across the country will lock horns, out of which four winners (two boys and two girls) from each school will move into the City-wide championship. Five boys and five girls from each city will then enter the National challenge to be held in Mumbai on May 14.

The winners at the end of the two-month long programme will receive an all-expense paid trip to attend a NBA game in the United States.

Schedule:
Coaching clinic: Mumbai (March 14-15); Pune (March 17-18); Bangalore (March 21-22); Chennai (March 23-24); Delhi (April 5-6).
Local skills challenge: Mumbai and Pune (March 21-26); Bangalore and Chennai (March 28-April 6); New Delhi (April 11-15).
City skills challenge championship: Mumbai (April 16); Pune (April 17); Bangalore (April 23); Chennai (April 24); New Delhi (April 29).
National championship: Mumbai (May 14).