Basketball Without Borders logo

Basketball Without Borders is a basketball instructional camp organized by the NBA in conjunction with FIBA. It presents itself as a “basketball development and community outreach program that unites young basketball players to promote the sport and encourage positive social change in the areas of education, health, and wellness.”

Organized annually since 2001, 41 BWB camps have been held across 23 cities in 20 countries with over 2,300 participants from more than 120 countries and territories, 33 of whom were later drafted into the NBA. Around 150 different current and former NBA/WNBA players have joined nearly 140 NBA team personnel as staff.[1]

History

Billed as a “summer camp for 12-14-year-olds designed to promote friendship and understanding through sport,” the initial editions focused on peace and international relations, bringing together youths from former Yugoslavia in 2001 shortly after the Yugoslav Wars and from Greece and Turkey in 2002 amidst tense Greek–Turkish relations, with leading participation from the UN in both cases.[2][3]

From the 2003 editions onwards, basketball became the focus of the camps. The age of the participants grew (17 on average) and participants are now mostly selected for their potential, although the selection process by FIBA and national federations is an inclusive system that sees consensual selections from weaker basketball countries.

2003 also saw the first edition of the camp in Africa, seen as uncharted basketball territory at the time. The camps would later expand to the Americas in 2004 and Asia in 2005, including youth from all around the globe (those from Oceania have attended editions in the latter two mentioned regions).

A global camp was first organized in 2015 in New York City as part of the All-Star Game Weekend, giving an opportunity for selected players, identified as the best in their regions, to have a taste of the game at its highest level. This was announced as an recurring annual event.[4]

The camps have gradually become a hotspot for scouts, with an impressive number of former campers who have made it into the NBA (see Attendees) and college basketball. They are seen as a means of spotting unheralded talent with high upside.[5] Players such as Luc Mbah a Moute[6] and Bruno Caboclo[7] are noted examples.

Though basketball skill is now at the forefront of the camp, the social goal is also still pre-eminent. Few campers are expected to make it as pros and a declared goal of the camp is to develop its attendees life-skills, with an emphasis on leadership and personal relations, to make them leaders of change in their home countries.

Ideally, the personal goal for them is to enter a high school or college in the U.S. to get an education they can use in the future.[8] In a given year it was estimated more than 60 former participants were playing and studying in American colleges.[9]

There is a camp for girls as well with coaches from FIBA and the WNBA; however, it receives far less exposure than the boys tournaments.

Basketball Without Borders and program director Masai Ujiri are profiled in Hubert Davis's 2016 documentary film Giants of Africa.[10]

Format

Basketball Without Borders brings together young players (called campers) usually aged 18 and under to a single location for a few days (3 or 4 on average). They are identified by the FIBA, NBA and participating federations with input from international FIBA/ NBA players from the region. For example, some players have been chosen for BWB Africa through Sprite Slam camps in the past.[11]

The youths are divided into teams (sometimes after a draft) named after real NBA teams and managed by coaches who are current and former NBA or FIBA players and coaches. They attend daily basketball fundamentals clinics (passing, shooting, dribbling...) with these coaches and participate in individual and/or team shooting games for prizes before playing in tournament-style games against the other teams.[9][12]

Also offered are seminars for the campers to improve their life skills (character, leadership, and health concerns...), normally run by local non-government organizations (NGOs).

The camp ends with an All-Star game featuring the camp's best players. Starting in the 2007 edition, a game MVP and a camp-wide MVP are then elected.[12]

In parallel the organizers also implement social responsibility programs with daily community outreach activities in the local area such as organizing seminars for local youths or Special Olympics. These are supplemented by product donations to local organizations, such as schools, and usually an NBA Cares initiative such as building or refurbishing playing and educational infrastructures.[13]

The NBA and its corporate sponsors pay for transport, lodging and meals for the campers and the entourage of personnel (including a full training staff for injuries). Some of many examples include the La Ghirada center in Treviso that was used in early camps and was leased for free by Benetton Group,[2] the campers in BWB Africa flown in by South African Airways, [14] whilst Nike has outfitted the campers in multiple camps.[13]

Camps

Year Edition City, Country Dates Attendees Camp MVP
2001 BWB Europe 1[15] Italy Treviso June 30 – July 2 50
2002 BWB Europe 2[16] Turkey Istanbul July 4–7 48
2003 BWB Europe 3[17]
BWB Africa 1[18]
Italy Treviso
South Africa Johannesburg
June 28 – July 1
September 2–6
46
106
2004 BWB Americas 1[19]
BWB Europe 4[20]
BWB Africa 2[21]
Brazil Rio de Janeiro
Italy Treviso
South Africa Johannesburg
June 28 – July 2
July 24–27
September 8–11
49
42
99
2005 BWB Americas 2[22]
BWB Asia 1[23]
BWB Europe 5[24]
BWB Africa 3[25]
Argentina Buenos Aires
China Beijing
Italy Treviso
South Africa Johannesburg
June 30 – July 4
July 11–17
July 28–31
September 7–12
57
50
49
106
2006 BWB Asia 2[26]
BWB Europe 6[27]
BWB Americas 3[28]
BWB Africa 4[29]
China Shanghai
Lithuania Vilnius
Puerto Rico San Juan
South Africa Johannesburg
June 8–11
June 30 – July 3
July 16–19
September 6–10
46
51
48
114
2007 BWB Asia 3[30]
BWB Americas 4[31]
BWB Europe 7[32]
BWB Africa 5[33]
China Shanghai
Brazil Sao Paulo
France Paris
South Africa Johannesburg
July 5–8
July 31 – August 3
August 6–10
September 5–9
49
51
48
97
Not Awarded
Uruguay Jayson Granger
Georgia (country) Nika Metreveli
Not Awarded
2008 BWB Europe 8[34]
BWB Asia 4[35]
BWB Africa 6[36]
Turkey Istanbul
India New Delhi
South Africa Johannesburg
June 4–7
July 1–6
September 3–8
46
45
98
Montenegro Nikola Mirotić
India Vishesh Bhriguvanshi
Not Awarded
2009 BWB Asia 5[37]
BWB Americas 5[38]
BWB Africa 7[39]
China Beijing
Mexico Mexico City
South Africa Johannesburg
July 30 – August 2
August 6–9
September 2–6
47
49
63
Not Awarded
Argentina Santiago Nicolas Scala
Cameroon Cyril Bilong Sonna
2010 BWB Asia 6[40]
BWB Africa 8[41]
BWB Europe 9[42]
Singapore Singapore
Senegal Dakar
Spain Barcelona
June 28 – July 1
August 5–8
September 16–19
44
55
50
Australia Tom Daly
Cameroon Michel Ange Enanga
Poland Mateusz Ponitka
2011 BWB Americas 6[43]
BWB Europe 10[42]
BWB Africa 9[44]
Brazil Rio de Janeiro
Slovenia Ljubljana
South Africa Johannesburg
July 29 – August
August 8–11 August
September 1–4
40
50
60
Argentina Gabriel Deck
France Boris Dallo
Cameroon Benoit Mbala Mendzana
2012 BWB Asia 7[45]
BWB Africa 10[46]
BWB Europe 11[47]
Japan Tokyo
South Africa Johannesburg
Russia Moscow
June 13–16
August 30 – September 2
September 13–16
56
58
42
Japan Yuki Togashi
Egypt Romeh Elsadani Sameh Ali
Bosnia and Herzegovina Nedim Buza
2013 BWB Americas 7[48]
BWB Europe 12[49]
BWB Africa 11[50]
Argentina Buenos Aires
Portugal Lisbon
South Africa Johannesburg
July 25–28
August 15–18
August 29 – September 1
50
50
60
Brazil Bruno Caboclo
Italy Federico Mussini
Angola Gerson Domingos
2014 BWB Europe 13[51]
BWB Asia 8[52]
BWB Africa 11[53]
Italy Rome
Taiwan Taipei
South Africa Johannesburg
June 2–5
June 13–16
August 5–8
50
47
50
France Luc Loubaki
Iran Mohammad Yousof Vand, Japan Ryogo Sumino
South Africa Luca Lunneman
2015 BWB Global 1[54]
BWB Europe 14[55]
United States New York City
Spain Las Palmas
February 13–15
June 3–6
50
50
Croatia Dragan Bender
Turkey Ömer Yurtseven
2016 BWB Global 2[56]
BWB Europe 15[57]
Canada Toronto
Finland Lohja
February 12–14
September 7–10
53
40
Australia Harry Froling
Lithuania Arnas Velička
2017 BWB Global 3[58]
BWB Africa 15[59]
BWB Americas 9[60]
BWB Europe 16[61]
United States New Orleans
South Africa Johannesburg
The Bahamas Nassau
Israel Netanya
February 14–16
August 5–8
July 2–5
August 13–16
Canada R.J. Barrett
Central African Republic Kurt-Curry Wegscheider
Argentina Francisco Farabello
Italy Omar Dieng
2018 BWB Global 4[62]
BWB Asia 10
BWB Africa 16
BWB Europe 17[63]
United States El Segundo, California
India New Delhi
South Africa Johannesburg
Serbia Belgrade
February 16–18
May 30 – June 2
August 1–4
August 15–18
N/A
66
N/A
63
Nigeria Charles Bassey
Philippines Rence Padrigao
N/A
Israel Deni Avdija[64]
2019 BWB Global 5[65]
BWB Europe 18[66]
United States Charlotte, North Carolina
Latvia Riga
February 15–17
June 10–12
63
64
Israel Deni Avdija
France Juhann Begarin
2020 BWB Global 6[67] United States Chicago February 14-16 64 Germany Ariel Hukporti
2022 BWB Africa 17[68] Egypt Cairo August 28–31 60 Central African Republic Thierry Serge Darlan
2023 BWB Global 7[69]
BWB Africa 19[70]
United States Salt Lake City
South Africa Johannesburg
February 17-19
July 28-31
40
80
Lithuania Matas Buzelis
South Sudan Khaman Maluach

Notable Attendees

Have played in the NBA Have been drafted by NBA teams Have been regularly involved as staff

References

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  2. 1 2 "Basketball Without Borders': National Basketball Association stars to conduct camp for children from former Yugoslavia."UN, Vienna, 26 March 2001. Retrieved on 4 May 2015.
  3. "Basketball Stars Unite for Goodwill.", NBA, 8 April 2002. Retrieved on 4 May 2015.
  4. Freifelder, Jack. "NBA goes global for its future.", China Daily, 16 February 2015. Retrieved on 4 May 2015.
  5. Grant, Dan. "Business Without Borders: The NBA and its International Feeder System.", SamePageTeam.com, 29 August 2014. Retrieved on 4 May 2015.
  6. "NBA Insider: Mbah a Moute changing lives.", Star Tribune, 22 March 2014. Retrieved on 4 May 2015.
  7. Koreen, Eric. "Unplugged: Raptors’ Masai Ujiri and Bruno Caboclo’s personal advisor on Toronto’s draft pick.", National Post, 28 June 2014. Retrieved on 4 May 2015.
  8. Blinebury, Fran. "Young Africans see sport as ticket to U.S. education."Houston Chronicle, 14 September 2004. Retrieved on 8 May 2015.
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