In a partnership with an association that serves athletes with intellectual disabilities “Special Olympics Rwanda”, NBA Africa provides a Youth Jr NBA Basketball Clinic for the young athletes with and without intellectual disabilities. the event took place at the BK Arena on Thursday 26 May 2022.
The event brought together about 40 youngsters and 10 coaches, from various institutions in Rwanda including; Lycée de Kigali, IPRC Kigali, Tubiteho Center, HVP Humura Ndera and Amizero in BK Arena.
Pastor Deus Sangwa, the chairperson of Special Olympics Rwanda, commended the initiative and affirmed how special the partnership is. He further added that the Special Olympics will continue to do its utmost to assist disabled athletes playing various sports, including basketball.
“We are delighted to have the members of NBA Africa as our guests today, we welcome this new exciting initiative and hope it will continue. We shall carry on to promote sports for people with Intellectual disabilities, we usually participate in football, athletics, bocce and so on… So, with the help of Jr NBA, We want to see them play basketball.”
Gasana Kenny, one of the beneficiaries from Tubiteho Center spoke out about his excitement to play Basketball. “I enjoyed playing basketball as well as playing with the Americans”
Kita Matungulu, Jr NBA representative expressed his gratitude to join the children in the Basketball clinic and stated that it’s one of their most important programs for young basketball players, especially for children with disabilities.
He said “We’re very excited to be training with these kids, you’ve seen them work with some of the former NBA players, like Dikembe Mutombo and others. It’s a great pleasure to play with children with disabilities because they also need to be taught Basketball. ”
Special Olympics Rwanda is a non-governmental organization that has a wide range of projects aimed at improving the health and well-being of children with Intellectual disabilities.
