Year 2 of the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA Program tips off in Punjab

Ludhiana, September 6, 2014 – The second year of the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program – a joint initiative of the Reliance Foundation and the National Basketball Association (NBA), tipped off at Guru Nanak Stadium in Ludhiana today with a ‘Train the Trainers’ program.
After a highly successful first year, the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program is expanding to eight cities in 2014 - Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Chennai, Delhi, Kochi, Kottayam, Kolkata and Mumbai.
The program in Punjab will include a ‘train the trainer program’, in-school basketball sessions, elite training camps and a city final featuringshooting, 3x3 and 5x5 competitions. Three international NBA certified coaches will be based in Punjab for 3 months to oversee the program, train coaches, work with schools and teach the game to youth across the state.
The program expects a total of 170PE instructors/coaches from the 170 partner schools to receive ongoing training from the international coaches along with turnkey curriculum to teach the game to the youth.  All local coaches will receive a ‘Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA Basketball in a Bag,’ which contains resources for them to grow the game in their communities.  The bag includes an India-specific coaching guide with curriculum for in-school and after-school programs, basketballs, nets, whistles, cones, air pumps and a Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA poster.
The international coaches will support program implementation at each school where, ultimately, the local coaches and physical education instructors will conduct weekly basketball-led physical education classes for grades 3-10.
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 Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA initiative is a comprehensive youth basketball program, which uses the positive values of the sport to engage and impact the lives of Indian youth.  It focuses on inspiring youth to play and living a healthy, active lifestyle. Basketball is a great form of exercise that teaches youth valuable life lessons such as teamwork, sacrifice, discipline, dedication and sportsmanship.
About Reliance Foundation
Reliance Foundation (RF) 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 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 currently feature 85 international players from 36 countries and territories. NBA Digital’s assets include NBA TV, which is available in more than 61 million U.S. homes, and NBA.com, which averages more than 42 million page views per day, more than half of which originate from outside of North America. The NBA is the No. 1 professional sports league on social media, with more than 445 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 $225 million to charity, completed more than 2.6 million hours of hands-on community service, and created more than 830 places where kids and families can live, learn, or play.