Irish NBA Star Pat Burke engages with more than 450 participants at Jr.NBA Finals

The Jr.NBA Festival of Fun took place at the National Basketball Arena, as Basketball Ireland welcomed over 450 children from 30 schools across the island for a day of skills, drills and education. Particpants also met former Irish NBA star with the Orlando Magic and Phoenix Suns, Pat Burke, as well as Irish international James Gormley and MissQuote.ie Division One Player of the Year Jensen Caretti.  

Proud partners of the Irish Jr.NBA programme DeCare Dental were on hand to inform the students about the importance of oral and overall health. 

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' at the National Basketball Arena. The 10 clubs selected for this year’s programme were Clare Cascaders,St Annes & St Bridgets, Athlone BC, St. Colms BC, Tullamore BC, Kenmare Kestrels, North Kildare Eagles, Springfield BC, Ballinrobe BC and Tipperary Knights. Each club worked with three local schools, doing coaching and blitz days.

Jason Killeen, Jr. NBA League Manager for Ireland, said: "The Jr.NBA Festival of Fun at the National Basketball Arena is always a special day. It's amazing to see the numbers of school children particpating grow each year and today is about the fruition of the hard work of their clubs and schools over the past month. To have an Irish player present with the stature of Pat Burke as Jr. NBA ambassador is the icing on the cake.  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, along with their local schools and club coaches. We're aleady looking forward to next year's event already. "