Basketball without Borders uses the sport of basketball to influence positive social change and features dozens of current and former NBA players and team personnel as camp coaches. The NBA’s global basketball development and community outreach program transcends all boundaries by uniting young people from diverse cultural, national and economic backgrounds on four separate continents each year 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.

Basketball without Borders has been staged in nine countries and territories on five continents since the inaugural camp in 2001. The program has featured more than 250 NBA players, coaches and team personnel from 30 different teams as camp coaches for 1200young athletes from more than 100 countries and territories. The NBA family and the campers have traveled more than 85 million miles and logged more than one million hours of community service participating in Basketball without Borders. In addition, the program has reached countless others through its community relations outreach efforts in each region. Efforts culminate with an NBA Cares Legacy Project, the NBA’s premiere community initiative, which includes the creation of safe places where kids and families can live, learn or play. As part of Basketball without Borders, the NBA has created and dedicated37 of these safe places outside the United States and Canada.

RECAP OF COMMUNITY OUTREACH FOR BASKETBALL WITHOUT BORDERS

Basketball without Borders Africa 2003 in Johannesburg, South Africa

  • Created the first Learn & Play Center outside of the United States 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

  • Created a state-of-the-art Reading and Learning Center at Vila Olimpica de Jornalista Ary de Carvalho
  • Conducted Read to Achieve events
  • Held Basketball and Books clinics

Basketball without Borders Africa 2004 in Johannesburg, South Africa

  • Dedicated the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation Dormitories at Ithuteng Trust which provided proper housing facilities for the many orphans who live on school grounds
  • Visited SKY Trust to encourage literacy and education
  • Promoted HIV/AIDS through the first public testing event called “Know your Status” where players volunteered to be tested

Basketball without Borders Americas 2005 in Buenos Aires, Argentina

  • HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness event at Hospital Nacional Prof. Alejandro Posadas
  • Created a Learn & Play Center at the Escuela Benjamín Zorrilla Distrito Escolar 8
  • Visited Hospital Municipal de Agudos in Bahia Blanca
  • Basketball and Books Clinic at Club Bahiense del Norte for children from two local homes for orphans
  • Held a rally at the Paseo del Sol

Basketball without Borders Asia 2005 in Beijing, China

  • Special Olympics Basketball Clinic sponsored by McDonald’s at the Beijing Olympic Training Facility
  • Created a Learn & Play Center at the Hui Lei School
  • Held an HIV/AIDS Awareness Day with Tsinghua University to help generate HIV/AIDS awareness and education in China

Basketball without Borders Africa 2005 in Johannesburg, South Africa

  • Created second Learn & Play Center in South Africa at SKY Trust in partnership with Feed the Children
  • Held 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
  • Dedicated two refurbished basketball courts with Reebok, an official Basketball without Borders partner
  • Returned to Ithuteng Trust to help dedicate a new laundry facility and guest house for its students

Basketball without Borders Asia 2006 in Shanghai, China

  • Special Olympics Basketball Clinic sponsored by McDonald’swith 100 Special Olympics Athletes
  • Created China’s second Learn & Play Center at the Fu Sheng School, a school for children of migrant workers, which featured a multimedia room with 20 computers, a library stocked with over 2,000 books, and two new classrooms
  • Launched NBA Cares/ UNICEF “Skills for Life in a Box” as part of the “Unite For Children, Unite Against AIDS” global campaign by UNICEF. The “Skills for Life in a Box” contains interactive HIV/AIDS educational materials for teachers to use with their students

 Basketball without Borders Europe 2006 in Vilnius, Lithuania

  • Conducted “Healthy Lifestyle Clinic” for 100 children from several community organizations focused on leading an active, healthy and drug-free life
  • Court refurbishment at the Seskines Vidurine Mokykla public school in Vilnius in partnership with the Kazickas Family Foundation and the aid of the Lithuanian Men’s National Basketball Team Foundation
  • Dedicated a new NBA Cares Live, Learn and Play Center at Pagyne Children’s Home, an orphanage in the outskirts of Kaunas, featuring new computers and books for the children and a new bathroom and foyer

Basketball without Borders Americas 2006 in San Juan, Puerto Rico

  • Developed an NBA Cares Learn & Play Center at the Escuela Elemental Juan B. Huyke which included a multimedia room and library, complete with desktop computers and printers, and a basketball court refurbishment
  • Conducted Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA Fitness Clinic at Cuidad Deportive Roberto Clemente
  • Held a Special Olympics basketball clinic for 100 Special Olympics athletes at the Roberto Clemente Arena

Basketball without Borders Africa 2006 in Johannesburg, South Africa

Dakar , Senegal

  • Groundbreaking at Sports for Education and Economic Development (SEEDs), led by Amadou Gallo Fall, Dallas Mavericks Vice President International Affairs and Director of Scouting, for a court refurbishment project and a clinic for local children ages 9-16
  • Visit to pediatric cancer unit sponsored by Dallas Mavericks center DeSagana Diop at LeDantec Hospital

Johannesburg

  • Dedicated a new dining hall, sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria and the U.S. Consulate in Johannesburg, at Ithuteng Trust
  • Visited Cotlands AIDS hospice, one of the best of its kind, and participated in an HIV/AIDS education training seminar and spent time with the children
  • Dedicated new multi-purpose dining facility, funded by donations from NBA players who visited SKY last summer, as part of NBA Legacy Project at the Soweto Kliptown Youth (SKY) Trust, a youth empowerment program

Gaborone , Botswana

  • Worked in partnership with the African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnerships (ACHAP) to continue the NBA’s HIV/AIDS awareness and education efforts and to encourage young people to live healty, active and safe lifestyles

Basketball without Borders Asia 2007 in Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

  • Hosted a basketball clinic for 80 Special Olympics athletes in partnership with DHL
  • Dedicated an NBA Cares Learn and Play Space in partnership with the Shanghai Charity Foundation (SCF) and Lenovo which featured a new technology center, library, activity room, basketball court and renovations to the gate and wall around the school for safety
  • Held HIV/AIDS advocacy events in partnership with UNICEF China, Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center (ADARC) and China AIDS Media Project (CAMP) which included a screening of the academy award wining documentary The Blood of the Yingzhou District, and awareness event with the NBA players and children and families effected by AIDS, and an HIV/AIDS education seminar for the campers led by UNICEF China

 Basketball without Borders Americas 2007 in Sao Paulo, Brazil

  • Hosted a Special Olympics clinic for 80 Special Olympics athletes
  • Created an NBA Cares Learn and Play Center featuring a newly created basketball court play area and community technology center in partnership with NIKE and Lenovo as well as Central Unificado Favela (CUFA) and Rede Jovem, community organizations serving youth based in the favelas of Sao Paulo and Rio De Janeiro
  • Visited with children and families at Project AMA, a home founded in 2000 by Hospital Samaritano to provide free medical attention to children in need

 Basketball without Borders Europe 2007 in Paris, France

  • Dedicated two basketball court refurbishments and held a basketball clinic for children in partnership with PowerAde and the Town of Sarcelles
  • Hosted a family from Make-A-Wish France
  • Held a wheelchair basketball clinic and donated sporting equipment, in partnership with Agence Pour L’Education par le Sport, at the National Hospital of Saint-Maurice, a children’s orthopedic rehabilitation hospital that also has a specialized school
  • Conducted a basketball clinic and leadership seminar for 75 kids in partnership with the French Ministry of Youth and the French Basketball Federation (FFBB)
  • Held an HIV/AIDS education seminar for the campers in partnership with UNICEF France

Basketball without Borders Africa 2007 in Johannesburg, South Africa

  • Returned to Soweto Kliptown Youth (SKY) Trust to participate in 20 th Anniversary celebration
  • Participated in a Habitat for Humanity build day, sponsored by the Pagliuca family, in Katlehong where players and coaches built two homes for families
  • Developed and dedicated a new home-based care facility in Soweto for Cotlands, a nonprofit organization that operates one of the most renowned pediatric AIDS hospices, in partnership with the De Beers Fund
  • Held leadership and HIV/AIDS education seminars for the campers in partnership with Hoops 4 Hope