On a sunny Friday afternoon when hundreds of school kids were sweating it out on the basketball court, those young enthusiastic basketball fans witnessed their dreams come true when National Basketball Association (NBA) players — Robin lopez of New York Knicks and Seth Curry of Sacramento Kings arrived to witness the national finals at Jaypee Green Sports Complex, Noida.
"It's great to be here (in India), I am really enjoying my time here and I am just amazed to see the number of kids here who have so much love for the game. It's great to be among them. I am sure some of these kids will play in the NBA soon. India has a lot of potential and seeing the way these lads have played today, my belief in them has only increased." Sacramento player Seth Curry said on the sidelines of the event.
This grassroot programme had reached more than 1.5m school children and over 2,200 schools pan India. The program consists of a Train the Trainer program for local coaches, in school basketball sessions for children in grades 3-10, elite training camps, as well as Hot Shot, 3-on-3 competitions.
Also at event, Seth and Robin showed some of their skills and techniques and also interacted with the young kids. The NBA players also played a game and talked to them about their journey in NBA and answered to kid's queries. Earlier, NBA legends Bruce Bowen and Muggsy Bogues, WNBA All-Stars Tamika Catchings and Swin Cash, and Sim Bhullar, the first player of Indian descent to play in the NBA, have all travelled to India to support and promote the game in the country.