August 7 – The NBA, FIBA and the French Basketball Federation celebrated the official launch of Basketball without Borders Europe 2007 in Paris with a press conference at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin. As well as media members, the 50 young campers from all over Europe were also present to welcome France’s own, Boris Diaw (Phoenix Suns), Ronny Turiaf (Los Angeles Lakers), Mickael Pietrus (Golden State Warriors) and Yakhouba Diawara (Denver Nuggets) as well as Luol Deng and Chris Duhon (Chicago Bulls) and Bo Outlaw (Orlando Magic). Also at the event were NBA coaches Jim Eyen, Neal Meyer and Rory White (Los Angeles Clippers), Don Newman (San Antonio Spurs), Brian Hill (New Jersey Nets), NBA Coach Terry Stotts and trainer Fred Tedeschi.

Marin Sedlacek, Camp Director of Basketball without Borders for the seventh consecutive time spoke to the campers of how five NBA players had participated in the Basketball without Borders program when they were younger, including number one draft pick in 2006 Andrea Bargnani from Italy.

Francoise Amiaud, Vice President of the French Basketball Federation spoke of how pleased she was that the camp was taking place in France for the first time, a country that is passionate about basketball.

After the press conference the young players, who were kitted out in Nike apparel and shoes, had the camp rules and regulations explained to them. Boris Diaw, Ronny Turiaf and Mickael Pietrus said their goodbyes to the campers and the other players and coaches as they had to leave for their National Team Training commitments.

The campers got straight to work and they were put through intense scrimmages with the NBA players and coaches to evaluate them for team selections.

The players, aged between 16-18 years old, play on professional club teams in their home countries and are all excited to be at the camp. “It’s great to be rewarded for our hard work with this camp. I hope to play to the highest level and go as far as I can,” said Nicholas Stojiljkovic from France. “It’s the dream of every French basketball player to play in the NBA.”

Whilst the campers took a well earned rest after their first day at the camp, the coaches were still working hard deciding which players they wanted to see on which teams. You all know about the NBA Draft well this is the Basketball without Borders Europe Draft! In total the players will be divided into six teams (Lakers, Nuggets, Spurs, SuperSonics, Suns, Warriors) and it will be up to everyone to make sure their team wins.

The camp features Nike, EA SPORTS, HANNspree, Powerade and Spalding as marketing partners for the event.