Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA Program Promotes Health and Fitness to Boys and Girls through Comprehensive School-Based Program

Program expects to engage over 750,000 youth and train PE teachers at more than 1,000 partner schools across 8 cities

Reliance Foundation and the National Basketball Association (NBA) today announced that the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program, a comprehensive youth basketball initiative that applies the positive values of basketball to engage and impact the lives of Indian boys and girls, will expand from three to eight cities in 2014-15. The Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program focuses on inspiring youth to adopt a healthy, active lifestyle by integrating basketball into each participating school’s physical education curriculum.

The eight cities are Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, Kochi and Kottayam. The program, which runs from September 2014 to February 2015, expects engage more than 750,000 youth across 1,000 schools. Fifteen coaches will oversee the program and anticipate training more than 1,000 local physical education instructors as coaches over the course of the program’s second year.

On the occasion Jagannatha Kumar, Head, Reliance Foundation commented, “We are happy to announce the expansion of our Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program for the second year in succession and are confident that this initiative will instill strong values in the children in their formative years. It is very gratifying to learn that the implementation and the start of the program is eagerly awaited not only by the children but also by their parents, as they too are looking forward for their children to excel in sports! This program is also aimed at unlocking the aspirational energy of the youth in our country by allowing young upcoming talents to blossom. Further, this initiative will empower the youth to participate effectively in making this basketball initiative a great success.”

“The Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program reflects our commitment to increase participation in basketball among the youth of India, and to promote a healthy and active lifestyle,” said Yannick Colaco, Managing Director, NBA India. “The Reliance Foundation continues to be an excellent partner in this commitment, and we look forward to working with the children, coaches and educators from these eight cities.”

Reliance Foundation and the NBA have developed a weekly curriculum for coaches to use while teaching basketball to students. In addition, the program will implement a new three-phase player development system:

• Weekly Elite Training Camps – The topboy and girl in each age group - U10, U13 and U16 - from each school will be invited to weekly camps in each city that will beconducted by the coaches and focused on advanced techniques. Each player will be tracked and provided a report card on his or her progress.
• Regional Elite Camps – Coaches will conduct an intensive, four-day camp at the conclusion of the program for the top 80 children in each city.
• National Elite Camp – The top 120 youth from all of the eight cities will be selected to attend a four-day national camp conducted by NBA India coaching staff.

The RF Jr. NBA program consists of a Train the Trainerprogram for local coaches, in-school basketball sessions for children in grades 3-10, elite training camps, as well as Hot Shot, 3-on-3 and 5-on-5 competitions. Each participating school receives essential equipment to encourage and facilitate participation among its students, including basketballs, whistles, air pumps and coaching guides.

The first year of the program was conducted in three cities: Mumbai, Kochi and Kottayam, engaging more than 140,000 youth, 40 percent of whom were female, from 225 schools. The program trained more than 250 coaches and distributed over 4,500 basketballs to partner schools. NBA legend MuggsyBogues and WNBA player Swin Cash were in Mumbai and Kochi to conduct coaches and player clinics and support the program.

The complete eight city schedule for the 2014-15 Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program is detailed below.

Prospective participants including children, parents, coaches and schools can visit http://rf.jrnba.com for program information, including training resources and tips on staying fit.

The Reliance Foundation and the NBA also recently announced a project to install basketball hoops in more than 50 schools across Mumbai as part of their joint commitment to developing basketball infrastructure in India and to facilitate access to the game.

About Reliance Foundation:

Reliance Foundation (RF), the philanthropic arm of Reliance Industries Limited, aims to play a catalytic role in addressing the nation’s development challenges through innovative and sustainable solutions with its focus on five core pillars: Rural Transformation, Education, Health, Urban Renewal, and Promotion and protection of India’s Arts, Culture and Heritage. Smt. Nita M. Ambani is the Chairperson of Reliance Foundation and the guiding spirit behind the Foundation's ambitious vision of becoming the leading vehicle for social development, empowering the underprivileged and infusing social transformation in India. Reliance Foundation reaches out to over 5,500 villages and various urban locations across India”.

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 offices in 14 markets worldwide, 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 recorded 26.9 billion page views during the 2013-14 season, 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 650 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 $237 million to charity, completed more than 3 million hours of hands-on community service, and created more than 895 places where kids and families can live, learn, or play.

Contact: 
Reliance Industries: Leeladhar Singh - +91 7738216155