The NBA and China's Ministry of Education have agreed to a multi-year partnership, which will incorporate a fitness and basketball development curriculum into elementary, middle and high schools across the country, and aim to provide enhanced basketball training to at least three million Chinese students by 2017.
The NBA announced the partnership (which is the Chinese Education Ministry's first collaboration with an American professional sports league) on its official website on Friday:
As part of the curriculum, NBA players, legends and coaches will visit Chinese schools to conduct basketball clinics and provide specialized instruction to Chinese coaches and physical education teachers. Chinese coaches and physical education teachers selected by the Ministry of Education will also have the chance to observe and participate in coaching activities organized by the NBA.
The NBA will conduct the partnership through NBA China and will support the Ministry of Education in operating China's elementary, middle and high school basketball leagues.
"The Chinese government attaches great importance to sports education," said Vice Minister of Education Hao Ping. "We highly appreciate the NBA's efforts to promote basketball and improve the basketball education in Chinese schools. I am fully convinced that with the joint efforts of the NBA and China's Ministry of Education, great success will be achieved in the cooperation of basketball education between the two sides, which will surely contribute to the development of China's basketball education and China-U.S. people-to-people exchange."
Said NBA commissioner Adam Silver: "This partnership complements our long-standing commitment with the Chinese Basketball Association to grow the game in China."
