Basketball: Inaugural Junior NBA Singapore open clinic held at Sengkang

SINGAPORE - Close to 700 children attended the inaugural Jr National Basketball Association (NBA) Singapore open clinics under the watchful eye of Jr NBA coach Chris Sumner at Sengkang Sports Hall on Saturday (Jul 30).

A collaboration between the United States-based NBA and Sport Singapore, the Jr NBA tipped off on Wednesday (Jul 27) with a coaches training session to develop local coaches involved in the programme at Choa Chu Kang Sports Hall and an open coaches workshop was also conducted on Friday (Jul 29) at Pasir Ris Sports Hall.

Saturday saw boys and girls aged between five to 14 trained in the fundamentals of basketball and learn the importance of Jr NBA's core values called Star, which stands for sportsmanship, team-work, a positive attitude and respect.

American Sumner, who was joined by more than 30 local coaches in conducting the free open clinics, said: "Working with some of the local kids, it turned out exactly like how I thought and hoped. They're so energetic and no matter how tired they are, they're still so ready to go. I'm excited to see how the rest of the weekend goes and how this Jr NBA programme does in its first year in Singapore."

Sumner has been in the Jr. NBA set-up for the past three years in South-east Asia and has experience coaching youths from the likes of Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.

Another open clinic will also be held on Sunday (Jul 31) at Choa Chu Kang Sports Hall, where another 700 kids are expected to turn up.

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