Over 400 children take part in Jr. NBA Festival of Fun 2025

Basketball Ireland's Jr. NBA programme came to a conclusion today at the National Basketball Arena, as more than 400 children from 30 schools across the island took part in the Festival of Fun, which is the culmination of the event that began in April. Participants engaged in a day of games, skills and educational activities with a variety of current National League players and coaches.

They also got to meet Irish international and FIBA Euro Cup silver medalist Claire Melia, who took time to present some awards to those involved as the programme wrapped up for 2025. 

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The Jr.NBA programme sees 10 clubs partnered with 30 schools, who are each assigned an NBA team for the duration of the programme. They also wear their NBA team-branded jerseys to the 'National Festival of Fun'. The 10 clubs selected for this year’s programme were Glanmire BC, Titans BC, Atlantic Coast Eagles, Portlaoise Panthers, Limerick Celtics, Oblate BC, Éanna BC, Malahide BC, Kenmare Kestrels and North Kildare Eagles. Each club worked with three local schools, doing coaching and blitz days.

You can view all the photos from today's event here.

Casey Tryon, Jr. NBA League Manager for Ireland, said: "The Jr.NBA Festival of Fun at the National Basketball Arena has once again been a really special day for all those taking part in the programme. It's been amazing to see the numbers of school children particpating grow again this year and their knowledge of Irish basketball in particular has been fantastic to see. To have a historic Irish player present such as Claire Melia is another fantastic development.  A big thank you goes to the Irish internationals and National League players who gave up their time to coach at the National Basketball Arena today, along with their local schools and club coaches. We're aleady looking forward to next year's event already. "