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USA Basketball today announced plans to collaborate with the National Basketball Association (NBA), National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the expansion of its Men’s Junior National Team program to include additional training camps and year-round player development programming, with focuses on health and wellness and life skills.
Through the expansion, USA Basketball’s Junior National Team will build on its existing basketball development program to provide unprecedented on- and off-court player development opportunities for more than 80 top U.S. high school players.
Life-skills education and off-court development also will be major focus areas for the expanded program, with player education sessions on a variety of topics, including positive decision making, healthy relationships, cultural understanding and diversity, leadership and character development, collegiate eligibility and recruiting.
The expansion will also introduce a first-of-its-kind parent education program to provide families with resources and information designed to help them support their athlete’s development on and off the court.
Approximately 20 athletes from each high school class will participate in six training camps and competitions throughout the 2018-19 calendar year, including the first Junior National Team minicamp for players from all high school grades from Oct. 5-7 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The 2018-19 schedule of USA Basketball Junior National Team training camps and competitions is as follows:
- Junior National Team Minicamp: October 2018 Colorado Springs, Colo.
- Junior National Team Minicamp: April 2019 Minneapolis, Minn.
- Nike Hoop Summit: April 2019 Portland, Ore.
- USA Basketball Training Camp: June 2019 Colorado Springs, Colo.
- FIBA Americas U16 Championship: June/July 2019 TBD
FIBA U19 World Cup: July 2019 TBD
- Junior National Team Minicamp: July 2019 Colorado Springs, Colo.