All you need to know about NBA & BFI’s historic school-based basketball programme in India
The National Basketball Association, ACG and the Basketball Federation of India have announced the launch of the Jr. NBA program. It is a 3v3 tournament for the U-15 age group which will be played across various cities in India and will also become the largest school-level basketball competition in the country.
The announcement was made in Mumbai on Thursday (September 12) in the presence of BFI president Aadhav Arjuna, NBA Asia Strategy Head and NBA India Country Head Rajah Chaudhry.
BFI supremo Aadhav Arjuna said on the occasion (as per a press release):
“Our association with the NBA underlines our joint dedication to nurturing talent and elevating basketball to unprecedented heights nationwide. The NBA’s efforts to bolster grassroots basketball development in India have been truly commendable. We’re excited to work closely with the league to inspire and empower generations of basketball enthusiasts, fostering a culture of excellence both on-and-off the court."
He added:
"Programs like the ACG Jr. NBA will enhance students’ skills and motivation while introducing more children to the game in a fun and interactive environment. Additionally, it will serve as a hotspot for talent identification and development and help establish a sustainable pipeline of elite-level Indian players.”
The program will involve separate boys' and girls' divisions with teams representing schools from the Kolkata. The first set of tournaments will be played in Chennai and Mumbai and later the attention will shift to Aizawl, Delhi, Kolkata, and Ludhiana. Post this, the top eight teams from each city will compete in a league phase within the city and top three teams from the boys' and girls' categories and one all-star side will make it to the finals next year.
The remaining city tournaments and league phases' dates will be announced later.
A bit more about the program
The Jr. NBA program has been in existence since 2013 and has reached 14 million youth and 15,000 physical education instructors across 35 cities in the country. This initiative is a part of the broader work which the NBA is doing in India, notably those like NBA Basketball School, where a talented pool of children from ages six to 18 get the opportunity to learn about the sport from qualified mentors through the programs conducted by the school, and Basketball Without Borders Asia, a global basketball development and community outreach program by NBA and FIBA which has already been held in India twice before.