Basketball: Free NBA programme introduces basketball to children for a second year running

SINGAPORE - The Jr NBA basketball clinic has returned to Singapore for a second year running, as children aged five to 14 learnt about the fundamentals of basketball and sporting values on Saturday.

A total of 600 children signed up for the open clinic held at Our Tampines Hub sports hall.

Jr NBA is the National Basketball Association's global youth development program, which is also being conducted across South-east Asia in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

The children learnt the basics of basketball from coaches, which includes shooting, dribbling and passing.

"Jr NBA is a brand for us to help the kids," said Neo Beng Siang, the principal of the ActiveSG Basketball Academy.

"We need to get the young kids to love the sport first, they would then learn the fundamental skills first, then from there they'll start to pick it up.

"All over the world, people know about the NBA. Hopefully through this programme, we'd get more kids in future to take part in our Active SG academy."

Former Chinese Taipei basketball assistant coach Ben Metcalf said: "It's giving the kids an opportunity to play and fall in love with the game, we all love basketball because we've been playing since we were little kids.

"We just want them going home and telling their parents I want to play basketball some more, and find out that they love it."

Eight-year-old Aaric Chan, who was playing basketball for the first time at the clinic, said he has "enjoyed the camp".

"I like basketball the best because I get to bounce the ball," said Aaric. "I get to shoot every ball in the basket, and the coaches helped me to score."

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