NBA Yao School launches summer camps

Camps Will Take Place in Two Locations in Beijing with Special Visits from NBA Players

Beijing - The NBA Yao School will launch summer camps in Beijing to continue providing basketball training and fitness programs for boys and girls at all skill levels, NBA China and Yao Ming announced today. The camps will take place at the Wukesong Hi-Park in Haidian District and the No. 3 Middle School in Balizhuang, Chaoyang District from July 14 to Aug. 23, 2014.

The NBA Yao School Summer Camp is a progressive six week program that aims to teach the importance of teamwork, leadership and communication in a fun basketball environment. The camps will be led by Technical Director Billy Singleton, who has two decades of playing and coaching experience internationally.

NBA players will visit the school to provide specialized instruction on basketball techniques and share the joy of learning new skills. Students who complete the curriculum will be presented a Certificate of Graduation.

Launched in February, the first program of the NBA Yao School is currently taking place at the Wukesong Hi-Park.

“It is our dream to positively impact lives of youth through basketball participation,” said Yao. “We are happy to have this opportunity to continue teaching children the importance of communication, teamwork and leadership and helping them enjoy sports at the NBA Yao School.”

Students will attend comprehensive training sessions that focus on key basketball fundamentals that cover both individual and team aspects. Throughout the duration of the camp, students will have the opportunity to participate in games and organized team competitions where NBA Yao School core values such as teamwork and fair play will be taught.

“We are delighted to build on the success of this program to continue to provide teenagers the platform to improve their basketball skills, acquire self-confidence and forge lasting relationships," said NBA China CEO David Shoemaker. “With these programs and special visits from NBA players, we hope our students will have a positive and rewarding summer at the NBA Yao School.”

The NBA Yao School Summer Camp begins registration today. Fans can register via the official website of the NBA Yao School at www.nbayaoschool.com, the official Weibo at http://weibo.com/nbayaomingxuexiao, Weixin NBA-YAO-SCHOOL, and the official hotline at 400-014-1113.

Since NBA China and Yao partnered in 2012, NBA China has provided support to the Yao Foundation’s Hope School Basketball Season, which expanded to 79 Hope Schools and reached more than 60,000 children in 2013. In July 2013, NBA China conducted the first-ever NBA Cares Yao Foundation Charity Carnival, a free fan event held in the outdoor square at the MasterCard Center in Beijing, in support of Yao’s charity game.

About Yao Ming:

The former Chinese professional basketball player and NBA legend was born in 1980 in Shanghai, and is currently studying at the Shanghai Jiaotong University. Yao played for the Shanghai Sharks from 1997 to 2002 and was the first overall pick in the 2002 NBA Draft, where he went on to play for the Houston Rockets from 2002 to 2011. Yao is not only one of the most influential figures in China, but he is one of the most well-known Chinese athletes in the world. The eight-time NBA All-Star was listed as one of the “100 most influential people in the world” by TIME Magazine; he also got the Medal of Honor and Outstanding Contribution Award from the General Administration of Sports in China.

Yao Ming founded the “Yao Foundation” in 2008, which aims to help unprivileged children in China. In 2007, Yao conducted a charity game together with NBA guard Steve Nash and since then the Yao Foundation has held two charity basketball games in 2010 and 2013. With the Philosophy of educating children through sports, the “Yao Foundation Hope Primary School Basketball Season” was launched in 2012 and helps unprivileged children get involved in sports to be healthy, optimistic and confident. To date, 79 Hope Primary Schools and nearly 60,000 children have participated.

About NBA China

The NBA’s entity that conducts all of the league’s businesses in greater China was formed in January 2008 after its first office opened in Hong Kong in 1992. The NBA has interacted with Chinese basketball for decades, including first hosting the Chinese National team in 1985. The NBA currently has relationships with a strong network of television and digital media outlets in China, including a partnership of more than 25 years with national broadcaster CCTV. The league hosts hundreds of touring basketball events for fans, conducts community enrichment programs, and maintains marketing partnerships with a combination of world-class Chinese based corporations and U.S.-based multinationals.

Headquartered in Beijing, NBA China currently employs more than117 people in four offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taipei. NBA products such as apparel and footwear are available through various retail networks and on tmall.nba.com. In 2004, the NBA became the first American professional sports league to play games in China, with two games between the Houston Rockets and the Sacramento Kings in Shanghai and Beijing. Following NBA Global Games 2013, the league has played 16 games in China since 2004.

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