NBA to Host First Basketball Without Borders in Taiwan
NBA Players and Coaches to Mentor Top Basketball Talent from Asian and Oceanic countries and Participate in Extensive Community Outreach; Filipino among 50 Campers
The National Basketball Association (NBA) will stage its first-ever Basketball without Borders (BWB) Asia in Taiwan, it was announced today by the NBA, the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA).
Jr. NBA Philippines 2011 All-Star Rendell Senining, soon to play with the National University Bulldogs in Season 77 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), will be one of the 50 campers who will take part in Basketball Without Borders this year.
John Salmons (Toronto Raptors), Ronny Turiaf (Minnesota Timberwolves) and Cody Zeller (Charlotte Bobcats) will headline the program which takes place from June 13 – 16 in Taipei.
Eight-time NBA All-Star Yao Ming will make a one-day appearance. BWB Asia 2014 will bring together the top 50 players born in 1996 or 1997 from more than 20 Asian and Oceanic countries.
NBA team assistant coaches Bryan Gates of the New Orleans Pelicans, David Vanterpool of the Portland Trail Blazers and Bobby Jackson of the Minnesota Timberwolves will also participate.
“Basketball without Borders helps us to grow the game of basketball and bring attention to important social issues that affect communities in Taiwan,” said Bimal Kapoor, Associate Vice President and Managing Director of NBA Taiwan. “Thanks to the support of the CTBA, we are able to host this great program in Taiwan for the first time and give elite youth players the opportunity to develop their basketball skills and their life skills.”
“We are delighted to work with the NBA to provide young talent from around the Asia-Pacific region with the opportunity to learn from the best players and coaches in the world,” said Ting Shou-chung, President of the CTBA. “The support of the NBA for this project is another step that broadens our relationship with them and demonstrates our commitment to continue basketball development in Taiwan.”
The NBA has hosted a series of games and events in Taiwan highlighted by two sets of pre-season games including the NBA Taipei Game 2009 between the Denver Nuggets and the Indiana Pacers and the Global Games 2013 – Taipei featuring the Pacers and the Houston Rockets, and the Cathay NBA Youth Madness from 2011 to 2014.
In addition to the program in Taiwan, the 2014 BWB schedule will feature first-time camp in Rome, Italy and will return to Johannesburg, South Africa.
BWB Europe will tip off the summer schedule from June 2 – 5 in Rome. Highlighting the camp will be three current Italian NBA players and former BWB campers: Danilo Gallinari (BWB 2003, Denver Nuggets), Andrea Bargnani (BWB 2003, New York Knicks), and Italian national team captain Gigi Datome (BWB 2003, Detroit Pistons), who will also be joined by Brandon Knight (Milwaukee Bucks) and Al Horford (Atlanta Hawks). BWB Europe 2014 will bring together the top 50 players born in 1997 from more than 25 European countries. The camp was held previously in Treviso, Italy in 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2005.
BWB Africa will return to Johannesburg for the 11th time from August 5 – 8. The camp will be led by former All-Star Andrei Kirilenko (Brooklyn Nets) and Thabo Sefolosha (Oklahoma City Thunder), along with NBA head coaches Dwane Casey (Toronto Raptors), Brian Shaw (Denver Nuggets) and Jeff Hornacek (Phoenix Suns). BWB Africa 2014 will bring together the top 60 African players born in 1997 or 1998 from more than 20 African countries.
Through NBA Cares, the league’s global social responsibility program, all three camps will include extensive community outreach efforts led by NBA players and coaches. Through grassroots basketball development, community service, and life skill seminars, BWB will focus on teaching the values of the game, including leadership, respect, character and health and wellness. In addition, donations of school supplies, clothing, books, games, basketball equipment and other necessities will be made to local community based organizations.
Nike, a BWB global partner since 2002, will again outfit the campers and coaches of all three camps with Nike apparel and footwear.
Since its inception, the NBA and FIBA have staged 36 BWB camps in 21 cities across 18 countries on five continents. More than 150 different current and former NBA/WNBA players have joined nearly 140 NBA team personnel from all 30 NBA teams.
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 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 2013-14 season featured a record 92 international players from 39 countries and territories. NBA Digital’s assets include NBA TV, which is available in 60 million U.S. homes, and NBA.com, which set a record last year with more than 9.5 billion page views, with more than half of all visitors originating from outside of North America. The NBA is the No. 1 professional sports league on social media, with more than 580 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 $230 million to charity, completed more than 2.8 million hours of hands-on community service, and created more than 860 places where kids and families can live, learn, or play.
