August 8 – The campers were up bright and early for day three of Basketball without Borders Europe. First thing on their agenda was the Life Skills seminar to give the campers an overview of the camp Zoran Radovic, Development director of FIBA, Masai Ujuri, Director of Global Scouting for the Toronto Raptors, Amadou Fall (Dallas Mavericks) and Rich Scheubrooks from Nike talked to the campers about what it takes to be a great basketball player, the main focus being to work together as a team. “Although there are a lot of conflicts around the world, sport is the best way to unite people and this camp gives you the chance to meet people from a lot of different countries”, said Zoran Radovic. Masai Ujuri stressed the importance of education to the campers. “You must continue to go to school to study. This is as important as Basketball.”

After the seminar each of the campers from the six teams (Lakers, Nuggets, Spurs, SuperSonics, Suns, Warriors) were put through their paces with skills and drills. After training it was time to get down to the competition.

Don Newman’s Spurs got straight down to business beating the SuperSonics 77-55 whilst the Lakers defeated the Nuggets 81-61. But the closest game of the day was reserved for Neal Meyer’s Suns who defeated the Warriors by 2 points 64-62.

After lunch the campers got the chance to see Paris and took a tour of the city taking in sights such as the Sacre Coeur in Montmatre and the world renowned Eiffel Tower.

Meanwhile the NBA players, Chris Duhon (Chicago Bulls), Mickael Pietrus (Golden State Warriors) and Bo Outlaw (Orlando Magic), accompanied by NBA Legend Sarunas Marciulionis, paid a visit to the National Hospital of Saint Maurice. Chris Duhon spoke to the children gathered at the hospital “One of the reasons I love being an NBA player is that it gives all of us an opportunity to do so many good things for communities and young people all over the world.” During the visit, which was organized in conjunction with the Evens Foundation and the Association Agence pour l’Education par le Sport, the NBA players played games with the children and signed autographs, much to the delight of all.

This was going to be a unique day for the campers, not only had they got personal advice from the players but they were now going to create their own basketball shoes. Nike let the kids design their unique shoes through Nike iD at the Nike store on the Champs Elysees. Campers logged onto www.nikeid.com to select the sneakers they wanted, the colors and had the opportunity to add their signature. Once they’re produced the campers will be receiving them at home.