New Delhi, Nov 7
The ACG Jr. NBA programme, a nationwide 3v3 tournament for the top U-14 players across India and the largest school-based basketball event in the country, concluded its Delhi leg on Sunday at IGI Stadium here on Thursday. The 11th edition of the event is being conducted in association with the Basketball Federation of India (BFI).
"The experience has been great, every year it keeps improving. There are five states this time around and competition has increased. It Is a great platform for exposure.
"NBA India keeps bringing more initiatives and the important is that they focus on the grassroots which gives each player more time to develop and improve," FIBA licensed official Ishwar Bhati told IANS.
The ACG Jr. NBA programme features boys' and girls' divisions with teams representing schools from across the country. The tournament tipped off in Mumbai on September 26, followed by visits to Chennai, Aizawl and Bhubaneshwar. The program concluded on Sunday in Delhi and Ludhiana.
The top eight boys' and girls' teams from each city will now compete in a league phase within each city that will see the top three boys' and girls' teams and one all-star team from each of the boys' and girls' divisions advance to the league finals early next year.
St. Paul Academy, Bharti Public School, Sophia Secondary School, Nehru World School, Rishikul Sr Sec School, Maharana Pratap Inter College, Tagore Public School and Shri Sumer Senior Secondary School were the teams that qualified for the next phase in the men's U14 boys category.
"This was the first time I have played on a wooden court, The facilities are great. There were challenges like shooting and tic tac toe so it was good fun. My friend from Mumbai has qualified for the next phase of this competition. We want to beat him," said a player from the St. Pauls Academy to IANS.
Pardada Pardadi Educational Society Team B, Goodley Public School, Sophia, Kalash Prakesh Stadium, Sophia Secondary School, Pardada Pardadi Educational Society Team A, N.K.Bagrodia Public School, Bhatnagar International School and Ramagya Sports Academy were the teams that qualified from the U14 girl's category.
Monika Chaudhry and Vishal Chaudhry, coaches of Sophia Secondary School, Rajasthan were ecstatic with their team's performance and took the time to appreciate the event.
"The experience, facilities and management were all great. Our players got the chance to play with players who were at their level. Tournaments like this hold a lot of importance as it presents an opportunity for the players to see how they fare against others their age. We will be looking to improve on the mistakes we made today and will enter the next phase as a better team," Vishal told IANS. "The kids worked really hard and we got the response we wanted from them. Tournaments like these are important to improve the players and train them for bigger stages," added Monika.
The Jr. NBA programme has reached more than 14 million youth and 15,000 physical education instructors across 35 cities in India since 2013.
The ACG Jr. NBA programme is part of the NBA's broader basketball development initiatives in India that involve collaborations with local businesses and federations, including NBA Basketball School, a network of tuition-based basketball development programmes open to male and female players ages 6-18, and Basketball Without Borders Asia, the NBA and FIBA's global basketball development and community outreach program that has been held in India twice.
-IANS