England Basketball and the National Basketball Association (NBA) have formed a one-year partnership that will allow England Basketball to activate NBA 2ball, a grassroots basketball youth participation programme, in more than 3,000 schools across the UK.

Committed to increasing basketball participation among school aged children, England Basketball is planning to maximise the reach and exposure of the NBA 2ball programme by developing various NBA-themed competitions and by improving on the current communication and programme services with teachers and schools.

Created by the NBA in 1994, NBA 2ball is a basketball development programme created to increase basketball participation and develop skills among boys and girls. NBA 2ball is designed to teach children the fundamentals of basketball such as dribbling, rebounding, passing, shooting and teamwork. The rules of the game are simple; a two-person team has one minute to score as many points as possible from six different numbered shooting spots on a half court.

England Basketball will assign a project management team to drive the NBA 2ball programme. The team, assisted by Regional Development Managers (RDM’s), determined by the NBA, Kellogg’s and England Basketball, will be responsible for the collation and circulation of information to schools.

Simon Kirkland, Chief Executive of England Basketball said of the proposed plan:
‘England Basketball is the National Federation for basketball in England and along with its Federation responsibilities it is growing in commercial viability. Through this partnership with the NBA, England Basketball wishes to grow the sport and its partners in basketball. NBA 2ball provides an ideal opportunity to achieve these objectives.

NBA 2ball was first introduced in England in 1996 and more than 350,000 children have participated in the programme in the UK. NBA 2ball presented by Kellogg’s FROSTIES, is currently played by more than 1.5 million children in Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and the UK.

For more information, contact Emily Clarke. Tel: 0113 290 0811. Email: Emily-Clarke@ebbaonline.net.
Andreas Keller (NBA). Tel: (33) 1 53 53 62 06. Email: akeller@nba.com.