By Brian Magiri
The NBA Africa and Opportunity International have announced plans to build 100 basketball courts in Kenya.
The announcement was made at a press conference held in Nairobi on Tuesday, which was attended by NBA Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer Mark Tatum, Opportunity International CEO Atul Tandon, and five-time NBA champion Derek Fisher.
This deal is part of a larger project to build 1,000 courts and conduct youth clinics in Africa for the next decade. Rwanda and Kenya are the first co-horts of the project.
As part of the collaboration, each court will host a Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA coaches clinic aimed at elevating and upskilling 100 teachers. The program will provide them with skills and best practices in coaching, refereeing, game operations, event management, program administration, and more.
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“We are absolutely thrilled to work with NBA Africa to bring world-class basketball courts and coaches to Africa,” said Tandon.
“This initiative is key to our longstanding commitment to providing more education and opportunities to the youth of Africa, and we are grateful to NBA Africa, NBA Deputy Commissioner Tatum, and our longtime friend and partner Sam Garvin for coming together to help build a rising Africa,” he added.
“Our collaboration with Opportunity International reflects our commitment to investing in local basketball ecosystems across Africa and providing youth with the resources and opportunities to develop their leadership and basketball skills,” said Tatum.
“We look forward to working together to create safe spaces where Kenyan and Rwandan youth can play the game and participate in programs that help develop the next generation of coaches and mentors.”
NBA Africa
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The Jr. NBA, alongside the league’s global youth basketball participation program for boys and girls, teaches fundamental skills as well as the core values of the game at the grassroots level, aiming to enhance the youth basketball experience for players, coaches, and parents.
Last year, Jr. NBA programming directly reached more than 170,000 youth across Africa.
On that day, the NBA renewed its partnership with Nation Media Group as the main broadcaster for live NBA matches for another two years.
Meanwhile, Safaricom and the NBA have partnered to roll out the Jr. NBA program through local schools for coaching clinics.
Therefore, Fisher, a five-time NBA champion with the Los Angeles Lakers, will conduct a Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA basketball clinic in Nairobi on Wednesday for 80 participants, comprising 40 girls and 40 boys.
ALSO READ: SportPesa launch revolutionary Tujiamini Initiative to nurture talent
Tujiamini is an initiative that seeks to provide a platform, including up to 30M shillings in funding, for individual, team sports and various talent, in a year-long campaign that will go around the country in a move aimed at evoking the sense of pride in Kenya’s sports and talent ecosystem.
Applicants are urged to submit their applications through www.tujiamini.co.ke