NBA Jam India - Four city inter college 3-on-3 tips off in Hyderabad

A jam is spread on bread. To a basketball player, it signifies something different, the most emphatic way to score – a dunk. Jammed down the rim. Jam is also the name of the NBA‘s next big event in India. The NBA, building on its past efforts of grassroots development in India will be bringing this unique competition to four cities in September.

Two years ago, I had written – If school leagues exist, can college leagues be far behind? This is a long step in that direction. In the words of Indian basketball legend and Asian all star Jayasankar Menon: “We have good players, but we lack a system which will harness their talents once they grow out of school.” The pool of Indian basketball keeps getting filled from the ground up, we have an adequate system of developing junior level talent. But it keeps brimming over and overflowing as there isn’t a attractive system for harnessing the talent above the junior level. The bucket keeps overflowing. We need to install a system to keep students engaged in basketball at college level as well. Local level tournaments help the cause but you need something which attracts the attention of the general public in a BIG way. This is where the NBA Jam comes in. Basketball doesn’t get any bigger than the NBA and the new inter-college competition being started by the NBA in India is well equipped to launch off with a bang. It has a base in place already to blast off from.

The NBA has conducted various competitions in India. One of the earlier one was Basketball Without Borders. Then came the Mahindra NBA Challenge which is now one of the largest inter-city community level basketball competitions in India, having engaged multiple cities since its inception. Last year, the NBA conducted one of its most visible events in India with the NBA 3X at shopping malls. The number of fans on the NBA India page went up significantly, from around 60,000 it boomed over one lakh in a very short time.

Colleges in India aren’t as savvy about sports as their western counterparts. But basketball is one sport which is quite popular in them. Colleges have sparse space and if they are to introduce a sports activity, basketball is the most economic one around. And 3×3 basketball is the most economical form of the sport. This format is sure to be a hit. It’s going to be more than just basketball at the NBA Jam. There will be performances by local artists and there will be fun contests for fans to engage in. Indiatimes will be setting up a virtual basketball zone at each venue for fans to test their basketball skills. One fun activity at the event will be a measure of the vertical leap, ‘Jump for D Rose’-

This will be be held in September in four cities: Hyderabad, Bangalore, Delhi, and Mumbai. The tournament will culminate with a National Finals in Mumbai on September 29 and the winning team will get to compete against three NBA legends: Horace Grant, Peja Stojakovic and Ron Harper, who will be coming to India for this event. It will see almost 500 teams participate, with about 120 teams competing in each city. Competition will take place in two age divisions for men and women, 16-18 and 19-23. Winning teams from each city will be invited to the National Finals in Mumbai, where they will play in a small-scale replica NBA arena. Three NBA legends, Celtics dance team, mascot, and dunk team will all attend the National Finals. There will be a Adidas partnered trophy which will be at an Adidas store in each city in the week leading up to the Jam and fans will have an opportunity to take photos with it and stand to win a chance to meet an NBA Legend by participating in a contest.

Following are the dates of this competition-

Hyderabad- September 5,6 and 7, 2013M J College Grounds

Bangalore- September 12, 13 and 14, 2013Kanteerva Stadium

Delhi- September 19, 20 and 21, 2013Hans Raj college

Mumbai- September 26, 27 and 28, 2013

Colleges interested in participation may call 09594991125 or visit http://www.nba.com/india/

Watch this space for regular updates on the NBA Jam.