SHANGHAI , CHINA, APRIL 12, 2006 – Basketball without Borders Asia will return to China for the second consecutive year and take place in Shanghai, it was announced today by the National Basketball Association , the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) , and the China Basketball Association (CBA). The program, a basketball instructional camp for young people that also promotes friendship, healthy living and education with an emphasis on HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, features current and former NBA players and team personnel as camp coaches.
“One of the cornerstones of NBA Cares, Basketball without Borders is truly a global program that transcends all boundaries,” said NBA Commissioner David Stern. “Through the sport of basketball, it unites young people from diverse cultural, national and economic backgrounds on four separate continents. The NBA is proud to join forces with FIBA and its federations to bring together young athletes from around the world for such an impactful program that also serves as an essential forum for important social issues such as HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention.”
Since its inception in 2001, Basketball without Borders, the league’s premier global basketball development and community outreach program, has featured more than 120 NBA players, coaches and team personnel from 29 different teams as camp coaches for the more than 700 young athletes from nearly 100 different countries and territories. The NBA family and the campers have traveled more than 85 million miles and logged more than 1 million hours of community service participating in Basketball without Borders. At the inaugural Basketball without Borders Asia last year in Beijing, Houston Rockets star center Yao Ming led a group of NBA players, including San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker, as camp coaches for 50 young athletes from more than 20 countries and territories across Asia.
Basketball without Borders Asia is scheduled to take place June 8-11 in Shanghai, China with American Airlines, McDonald’s, Nokia, Nucom, Reebok, and Spalding as BWB Marketing Partners. American Airlines will be the official airline supplier providing flights for NBA players, staff and legends. The following is a tentative list of NBA participants: Atlanta Hawks forward Josh Childress (USA), Toronto Raptors center Matt Bonner (USA), Houston Rockets teammate Richie Frahm (USA), Portland Trail Blazers center Ha Seung-Jin (South Korea) and Philadelphia 76ers center Samuel Dalembert, who will be participating in his sixth camp this year, will join Yao as camp coaches. Retired FIBA/ NBA players Sam Perkins and Jerome Williams, Hank Egen of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Tom Abdenour of the Golden State Warriors also will participate. Houston Rockets assistant coach Dean Cooper will oversee as camp director.
“This will be a special home coming for me. I hope to make a difference and impact the young Asian basketball talents with on-court and off-court skills and values,” said Yao Ming. “I also look forward to the chance of giving back to the community and city which I grew up in.”
One of the goals of Basketball without Borders Asia is to help explore, develop and nurture the top basketball talent in Asia. The camp’s participants are selected by FIBA, in conjunction with FIBA ASIA and the CBA, based on their basketball skills, leadership abilities and dedication to the sport of basketball. The 50 young players (ages 19 & under) from more than 17 countries and territories across Asia, including Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan and Korea, will take part in basketball instruction and competition. Some campers who have participated in the program have gone on to play competitive basketball internationally and at schools in the United States.
“We are happy to bring the Basketball without Borders camp back to China again this year. Last year’s camp was a great success, a wonderful example of how basketball unites those in a basketball loving continent and touches the lives of those on and off the court.” said FIBA’s Development Manager Zoran Radovic. “We are confident that the partnership between FIBA and NBA will benefit national basketball federations across Asia.”
To promote friendship and diversity, the campers will be divided into teams without regard to race and nationality. They will share living quarters with their new teammates and participate in daily motivational life-skills seminars that promote education, leadership, character development, healthy living and HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention. The HIV/AIDS interactive educational seminars will be led by NBA Cares community partners, such as United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the world’s leading non-governmental organization dedicated to children.
“We are committed to play a leadership role together with the NBA and FIBA to build on the good work the first Basketball without Borders Asia in China had achieved last year,” said CBA Executive Vice President and Secretary General Li Yuan Wei. “We believe the camp will continue to serve a very practical purpose of getting youths from different backgrounds and cultures in Asia to live out the concepts of harmonious living and co-existing in friendship.”
The camp in Shanghai will be highlighted by extensive community outreach activities , focusing on HIV/AIDS awareness, education and grassroots basketball development. Efforts will culminate with an NBA Cares Legacy Project, the NBA’s premier community initiative, which will include the creation of safe places where kids and families can live, learn or play. McDonald’s will be partnering with the NBA and FIBA on a Special Olympics clinic and Reeebok will be donating product in conjunction with the Legacy project.
The NBA and FIBA will also donate products, such as basketballs, rims and sporting goods to local basketball federations and communities. China’s first NBA Cares Learn & Play Center at the Hui Lei Migrant School, a school for children of migrant workers on the outskirts of Beijing, opened at last year’s Basketball without Borders Asia camp.
Through Basketball without Borders, five Learn & Play Centers and six new or refurbished basketball courts have been opened outside the United States and Canada. Centers are located at Vila Olimpica de Jornalista Ary de Carvalho in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the Escuela Benjamín Zorrilla Distrito Escolar in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Hui Lei School in Beijing, China and at Ithuteng Trust and at SKY Trust in Johannesburg, South Africa.
“NBA players are truly dedicated to giving back not only to their own communities but to communities around the world,” said NBA Legend and Community Ambassador Bob Lanier. “Basketball without Borders will affect the lives of young people around the world and leave an indelible mark on communities everywhere the program is staged.”
As a part of NBA Cares, the NBA and its teams have created Learn & Play Centers, built homes, refurbished basketball courts and other play spaces. To date, the NBA and its teams have created 138 places where families and children can live, learn or play.
The inaugural Basketball without Borders took place in Europe in July 2001. NBA legend Vlade Divac and Toni Kukoc of the Milwaukee Bucks, together with five other NBA players from the former Yugoslavia, re-united to work with 50 children from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia and Serbia and Montenegro at La Ghirada in Treviso, Italy. Since then, Basketball without Borders has expanded its reach to eight countries and territories on four separate continents. In addition to China, Basketball without Borders Europe will take place for the first time in Vilnius, Lithuania June 30-July 3, Puerto Rico will host its first Basketball without Borders Americas, July 17-20 and Basketball without Borders Africa will return to Johannesburg, South Africa September 6-10.
The NBA’s relationship with Chinese basketball dates back to 1979 when the Washington Bullets (now Wizards) traveled to China to play two exhibition games against the Chinese National Team. NBA games were first televised in China in 1987. Since then, the NBA has continued its efforts to grow the game of basketball through a variety of grassroots events, player tours, coaching clinics and the NBA China Games 2004. Since its founding in 1946, the NBA has become a global phenomenon that transcends national boundaries. With 30 teams in the United States and Canada, NBA games and related programming are broadcast to 215 countries in 43 languages. As fans witness tremendous performances on the court, some of the NBA’s most significant efforts occur off the court. This past year, the league launched its most ambitious community outreach endeavor, NBA Cares. Over a five-year span, players and teams will raise and contribute $100 million for charity, donate more than one million hours of volunteer service to communities worldwide, and build more than 100 educational and athletic facilities where children can learn and play. For more information on the NBA, visit NBA.com.