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Jr. NBA Wales Draft Day delivers on it’s promise
The schools selected for the 2021–22 Jr. NBA Wales League made their way to Aberystwyth University for a fun-filled day, meeting the other schools, participating in basketball skill sessions and learning more about the Jr. NBA. Teachers from each school were involved with a Power Hour session to help them with coaching their teams before the competition begins next year. It was the day that all 32 participating Welsh schools had been waiting for – Jr. NBA draft day! Which NBA team would their school be representing? Will it be Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors or Dallas Mavericks and the magical Luka Doncic?
The highlight of the day was the draft itself. Similar to the NBA, teams are divided into two conferences. The North and South Conference competitions will take place in March 2022 at venues in Bangor and Cardiff respectively, while the Jr. NBA Basketball Wales League Finals will take place in June 2022 in Aberystwyth. The Jr. NBA, the league’s global youth basketball program for boys and girls, teaches the fundamental skills as well as the core values of the game – teamwork, respect, determination and community – at the grassroots level in an effort to help grow and improve the youth basketball experience for players, coaches and parents.
“Setting up a Jr. NBA League here in Wales has been on the Basketball Wales wish-list for a long time,” said Basketball Wales Jr. NBA project lead, Jon Bunyan. “It has taken a lot of hard work by a dedicated group of people to get us here, but the Draft day was one we will never forget! We had a lot of volunteers to help us deliver the skills sessions, whilst Adrian Carrion Armas from the NBA delivered sessions to the teachers. We hope all of the morning activities inspired the schools”.
“The main draft event surpassed all of our expectations as the response from pupils was phenomenal. We would encourage you to watch the YouTube video of the event – as we are really proud of how it was all brought alive to help emphasise this is a programme all about the kids and inspiring them to play basketball through their Jr. NBA experience”.
The list of those to thank is extremely long. We had over 70 volunteers!
