NBA Basketball School, the first of its kind in Eastern Europe, opened in Vilnius on Friday.
Representatives of the NBA, the Lithuanian Basketball Federation, and Vilnius Municipality, who unveiled the initiative on Friday, said the new school will organise NBA camps for children, international tournaments, and other events that will help promote the sport and improve the skills of young players.
“We are delighted. It’s our first NBA school in Eastern European countries. Before, we had a couple [of schools] in Madrid, Italy, Greece, but never in this part of Europe,” Jesus Bueno Pascual, vice-president of NBA Europe, told a news conference in Vilnius.
“The purpose of the school is not to develop players for the NBA. It’s to promote basketball among the community, among young people to show them how beautiful our game is,” he added.
NBA Basketball School will be run by Vilniaus Krepšinio Mokykla (Vilnius Basketball School), a municipal body. Vilnius Deputy Mayor Valdas Benkunskas said the municipality invested more than 5 million euros in the project.
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