The NBA’s global outreach program Basketball without Borders transcends all boundaries by uniting young people from diverse cultural, national and economic backgrounds on four separate continents to learn through the sport of basketball. The program uniquely incorporates basketball instruction and educational programs that create a forum for important social issues such as HIV/AIDS prevention while emphasizing the importance of education and healthy living.

Since the inaugural camp in 2001, Basketball without Borders has featured more than 120 NBA players, coaches and team personnel from 29 different teams as camp coaches for the more than 700 young athletes from nearly 100 different countries and territories. The NBA family and the campers have traveled more than 85 million miles and logged more than 1 million hours of community service participating in Basketball without Borders.

In addition, the program has reached countless others through its extensive community relations outreach efforts in each region. Since the first Basketball without Borders in 2001, the NBA has partnered with UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, to create seminars for camp participants with an emphasis on HIV/AIDS education and prevention. The program also focuses on education, grassroots basketball development and product donation.

Through Basketball without Borders, six new or refurbished basketball courts and five Learn & Play Centers have been opened outside the United States and Canada. Centers are located at Vila Olimpica de Jornalista Ary de Carvalho in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the Escuela Benjamín Zorrilla Distrito Escolar in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Hui Lei School in Beijing, China and at Ithuteng Trust and at SKY Trust in Johannesburg, South Africa.

RECAP OF COMMUNITY OUTREACH FOR BASKETBALL WITHOUT BORDERS

Basketball without Borders Africa 2003 in Johannesburg, South Africa
The NBA’s first Learn & Play Center outside the United States and Canada was unveiled in Johannesburg, South Africa at Ithuteng Trust in the township of Soweto, one of the poorest in South Africa.

Basketball without Borders Americas 2004 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The camp featured Read to Achieve events, Basketball and Books Clinics and the creation of a state-of-the-art Reading and Learning Center at Vila Olimpica de Jornalista Ary de Carvalho.

Basketball without Borders Africa 2004 in Johannesburg, South Africa
The NBA returned to Ithuteng Trust to dedicate the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation Dormitories, the first of its kind at the school, which provided proper housing facilities for the many orphans who live on school grounds. The camp also featured a visit to SKY Trust to encourage literacy and education, and an event to promote HIV/AIDS testing called “Know your Status”.

Basketball without Borders Americas 2005 in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Community outreach featured an HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness event in partnership with UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, at Hospital Nacional Prof. Alejandro Posadas and the creation of a Learn & Play Center at the Escuela Benjamín Zorrilla Distrito Escolar 8. In Bahía Blanca, community outreach included a visit to Hospital Municipal de Agudos, a Basketball and Books Clinic at Club Bahiense del Norte for children from two local homes for orphans and a rally at the Paseo del Sol.

Basketball without Borders Asia 2005 in Beijing, China
Community outreach featured a Special Olympics Basketball Clinic sponsored by McDonald’s at the Beijing Olympic Training Facility, the creation of a Learn & Play Center at the Hui Lei School and an HIV/AIDS Awareness Day with Tsinghua University as part of an ongoing partnership to help generate HIV/AIDS awareness and education in China.

Basketball without Borders Africa 2005 in Johannesburg, South Africa
Joined by famed Hollywood actor Chris Tucker, community outreach included the creation of the second Learn & Play Center in South Africa at SKY Trust in partnership with international relief organization Feed the Children; an HIV/AIDS education and prevention event at Moletsane Sports Complex in Soweto, in partnership with the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria and the U.S. Consulate in Johannesburg; the dedication of two refurbished basketball courts with Reebok, an official Basketball without Borders partner, and a return to Ithuteng Trust to help dedicate a new laundry facility and guest house for its students.