Jr. NBA At Home Program Helping Kids Stay Fit, Connect With NBA And WNBA Stars

As he puts on an “at-home three-point contest,” Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks says he wants “to remind everybody that we need to practice social distancing” but “at the same time, continue to stay active and keep your mind intact.”

In a yoga lesson, Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner advises that, “If you can’t do the poses, it’s okay,” adding that participants should “just relax and try to follow along.”

“I grew up dribbling in my basement going through sequences with my dad,” Denver Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray relates as he shares a series of dribbling and ball handling drills. “This is just another part of something that we’ve done growing up.”

The videos are all part of the Jr. NBA at Home initiative, which was launched by the NBA and WNBA as an “interactive content series providing basketball skills and drills to help young players around the world stay active and develop their game in a safe and healthy way” during the coronavirus pandemic.

The concept behind Jr. NBA at Home is to use the NBA’s various social media platforms to not only promote both mental and physical fitness during a time when many kids around the world are having to spend more time at home, but to also give the youth a way to connect with NBA and WNBA players and coaches while league activities are suspended. The videos primarily feature basketball and fitness drills which can be performed in the small spaces at home where many are now confined.

The program has already attained an extensive reach, with its videos reaching over 100 million views around the world. Localized content has also been produced, with locally-produced Jr. NBA at Home videos in Southeast Asia garnering nearly 5 million views.

To learn more about the Jr. NBA at Home program, I interviewed Dawn Smyth, who is the NBA Director of International Grassroots Basketball, and is responsible for overseeing the NBA’s grassroots youth development programs globally, including the Jr. NBA and NBA Basketball Schools.

Joel Rush: What is the Jr. NBA at Home initiative, and what are its objectives?

Dawn Smyth: Jr. NBA at Home is our global program in which we work with 60 million kids in 70 countries to create a community and a family that interact in introductory experiences and grassroots development in basketball around the world. With the coronavirus pandemic that’s occurred, and its impact on our entire world as well as in our communities, we have worked together to launch our Jr. NBA at Home program that reaches out to that community and that family.

In our Jr. NBA program, there are 13 different types of programming. It’s in the schools as well as leagues and clinics, and it’s generally delivered in person. And so with this epidemic, in keeping the safety of all our participants really close at heart…