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February 21, 2019During the 2019 NBA All-Star Weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina, the NBA and FIBA hosted their fifth annual Basketball Without Borders (BWB) Global Camp. The camp was held February 15-17 at Queens University of Charlotte’s Levine Center for Wellness and Recreation. 63 boys and girls from 31 countries and regions travel from around the globe to take part in the camp and enjoy the NBA All-Star Weekend festivities.
The camp staff was filled with a who’s who list of NBA players, such as Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets; Serbia), Nikola Vucevic (Orlando Magic; Montenegro), Deandre Ayton (Phoenix Suns; Bahamas) and Festus Ezeli (Nigeria), former NBA players, such as Adonal Foyle (St. Vincent and the Grenadines) and Michael Ray Richardson (USA) plus Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame member Jennifer Azzi (USA) and former WNBA players Allison Feaster (USA), Ashley Battle (USA), Taj McWilliams-Franklin (USA), Astou N’Diaye (Senegal) and Andrea Stinson (USA). Charlotte Hornets assistant coaches Dutch Gaitley (USA), Nate Mitchell (Canada) and Ronald Nored (USA), along with 76ers assistant coach John Bryant (USA) and Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Mark Madsen (USA) also served as BWB Global coaches.
These players and coaches led the campers through a variety of activities on and off the court including movement efficiency, skill development stations, shooting and skills competitions, 5-on-5 games, and daily life skills seminars focusing on health, leadership and communication.
This once in a life time experience provided players with a competitive basketball environment to learn and test their game against other high level players but for many of these players it was their first trip to the United States.
The women’s side of the camps consisted of 24 prospects from 21 different countries. Five of the prospects have participated in The NBA Academies Women’s Program, a series of basketball development camps for top female prospects from outside the USA. Since October 2016, NBA Academies have been launched in Canberra, Australia; Jinan, Urumqi and Zhuji, China; Mexico City, Mexico; Delhi National Capital Region (NCR), India; and Saly, Senegal. To date, four female players from The NBA Academies Women’s Program have gone on to play at the Division One level.
The majority of the players I had seen play live multiple times, but this camp was different because of the high level of coaching, blending of players from different countries to form teams through out the camp, and the competition level.
The highlight of the camp is the 5v5 tournament in which the “Minnesota Lynx” (coached by Jennifer Azzi) won. Below is the team roster:
Ming Zheng (China); Misa Hayashi (Japan); Grishna Niranjan (India); Meriem Saadoui (Algeria); Emily Bessoir (Germany); Simona Visockaite (Lithuania); Aaliyah Edwards (Canada); Marian Valenzuela Medina (Mexico).
At the conclusion of the camp, the following awards were handed out awards:
Girls MVP: Aaliyah Edwards (Canada)
Patrick Baumann Sportsmanship Award: Zoe Wadoux (France)
Grit Award: Charlisse Leger-Walker (New Zealand)
Three-Point Champion: Gemma Potter (Australia)
Basketball Without Borders Global 2019 All-Stars:
Nika Muhl (Croatia); Ming Zheng (China); Goksen Fitik (Turkey); Zoe Wadoux (France); Florencia Chagas (Argentina); Aminata Sangare (Mali); Aaliyah Edwards (Canada)
Premier Basketball ReportGlobal and International subscribers can access the 2019 BWB Global Camp report in the database.
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