Basketball royalty was in attendance last weekend when Abu Dhabi\u2019s inaugural Jr. NBA tournament tipped off in style.
\nFour-time NBA champion Tony Parker added to the opening day excitement at American Community School of Abu Dhabi when the landmark, three-month-long competition got under way.
\nThe iconic ex-San Antonio Spurs point guard held a special one-v-one challenge and question-and-answer session for the teams present, from which eights boys\u2019 games and four girls\u2019 games were played by the competitors who are all 14-years old or under. Parker, 39, named the unforgettable Kobe Bryant as the best player he\u2019d played against, while also giving the children invaluable knowledge about how he\u2019d succeeded in the game.
\nElton James D. Dagasdas from The Philippine Global School, representing Cleveland Cavaliers, experienced a day he\u2019ll never forget when the six-time NBA All-Star handed him the Player-of-the Match award after a 48-4 victory against West Yas Academy.
\nBut it was Patrick Abou Jouade, 13, who had the honour of both scoring the first Jr. NBA points and receiving it\u2019s opening Player-of-the-Match gong. His Lycee Francais International Theodore Monod, playing for Brooklyn Nets, earned a 35-2 win versus Horizon Private School.
\n View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jr. NBA UAE ?? (@jrnbauae)
\nThe Jr. NBA is part of a ground-breaking, multi-year partnership between the\u00a0NBA\u00a0and the Department of Culture and Tourism, Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi). It aims to teach youngsters about the fundamentals of the game, while also promoting the values of teamwork, respect, determination and community.
\nWinners \u2013 across 72 games, including play-offs \u2013 will gain the chance to watch October\u2019s ground-breaking live\u00a0NBA\u00a0pre-season matches in the UAE capital. Scouts will also select one boy and one girl to experience the basketball education of a lifetime at the\u00a0NBA\u2019s summer camp in Europe.
\nMore than 450 players have been registered for the 30-team event, separated into 20 boys\u2019 teams and 10 girls\u2019 teams, which concludes with May 21\u2019s Jr. NBA Finals. Branded playing kits were provided by the\u00a0NBA\u00a0for six divisions, with five teams in each.<\/p>\n
Head to Instagram and follow the verified @jrnbauae account. There you will find everything you need from match schedules, to results, action pictures and amazing videos showcasing the incredible talents on display.
\nUse the following hashtags to join the conversation: #JrNBA, #NBAinAbuDhabi and #JrNBALeague.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Basketball royalty was in attendance last weekend when Abu Dhabi\u2019s inaugural Jr. NBA tournament tipped off in style.
\nFour-time NBA champion Tony Parker added to the opening day excitement at American Community School of Abu Dhabi when the landmark, three-month-long competition got under way.
\nThe iconic ex-San Antonio Spurs point guard held a special one-v-one challenge and question-and-answer session for the teams present, from which eights boys\u2019 games and four girls\u2019 games were played by the competitors who are all 14-years old or under. Parker, 39, named the unforgettable Kobe Bryant as the best player he\u2019d played against, while also giving the children invaluable knowledge about how he\u2019d succeeded in the game.
\nElton James D. Dagasdas from The Philippine Global School, representing Cleveland Cavaliers, experienced a day he\u2019ll never forget when the six-time NBA All-Star handed him the Player-of-the Match award after a 48-4 victory against West Yas Academy.
\nBut it was Patrick Abou Jouade, 13, who had the honour of both scoring the first Jr. NBA points and receiving it\u2019s opening Player-of-the-Match gong. His Lycee Francais International Theodore Monod, playing for Brooklyn Nets, earned a 35-2 win versus Horizon Private School.
\n View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jr. NBA UAE ?? (@jrnbauae)
\nThe Jr. NBA is part of a ground-breaking, multi-year partnership between the\u00a0NBA\u00a0and the Department of Culture and Tourism, Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi). It aims to teach youngsters about the fundamentals of the game, while also promoting the values of teamwork, respect, determination and community.
\nWinners \u2013 across 72 games, including play-offs \u2013 will gain the chance to watch October\u2019s ground-breaking live\u00a0NBA\u00a0pre-season matches in the UAE capital. Scouts will also select one boy and one girl to experience the basketball education of a lifetime at the\u00a0NBA\u2019s summer camp in Europe.
\nMore than 450 players have been registered for the 30-team event, separated into 20 boys\u2019 teams and 10 girls\u2019 teams, which concludes with May 21\u2019s Jr. NBA Finals. Branded playing kits were provided by the\u00a0NBA\u00a0for six divisions, with five teams in each.<\/p>\n
Head to Instagram and follow the verified @jrnbauae account. There you will find everything you need from match schedules, to results, action pictures and amazing videos showcasing the incredible talents on display.
\nUse the following hashtags to join the conversation: #JrNBA, #NBAinAbuDhabi and #JrNBALeague.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201989"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=201989"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":201990,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201989\/revisions\/201990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=201989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=201989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=201989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}