The Basketball Africa League (BAL) is set to host a series of youth development and social impact events alongside the much anticipated 2024 BAL Playoffs and Finals, slated for May 24 through June 1, in Kigali.
The events, according to BAL, are organised in collaboration with Rwanda Development Board (RDB), Imbuto Foundation, Special Olympics, Shooting Touch and RwandAir.
They include the "BAL Advance” Careers in Sports Workshop, which is expected to convene BAL players, staff, coaches, and "BAL Future Pros” for career development discussions and networking opportunities.
BAL Future Pros is an initiative launched in 2024 as part of the efforts to support young professionals from across Africa to pursue careers within the sports ecosystem and develop their skills, network and experience in the sports industry by working within the BAL organisation.
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On Saturday, May 25, BAL, in partnership with the Imbuto Foundation, will celebrate Africa Day with Umuganda community service activation alongside BAL guests and youth from the local basketball community.
The event will to take place at Kimironko Community Court unveiled in 2023. Some activities will include beautifying the space, and planting trees.
Held on the last Saturday of every month, umuganda is a day dedicated to community service that supports a variety of public works, including infrastructure development and environmental protection.
On Sunday, May 26, the BAL and Special Olympics will host a unified basketball game at BK Arena featuring Special Olympics ambassadors and athletes.
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For the second consecutive year, the BAL and Special Olympics are using the power of sports to support people with intellectual disabilities and help them discover new strengths, abilities, skills, and success.
The league will also host its first-ever Pan-African U-23 BAL4HER women’s camp from May 28 through June 1, to empower and develop talented young female athletes on-and-off the court.
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The five-day camp will bring together 20 of the top U-23 prospects from 14 African countries for on-court development and life-skills programming, including practices and a showcase at Lycée de Kigali. It will also hold career development workshops and networking sessions, and cultural and community engagement experiences.
And, as part of BAL4HER day, the league will, on May 29, bring together 100 young female professionals interested in careers in sports to take part in a basketball clinic, VIP game-day experience and workshop focused on building careers in the sports industry.
BAL4HER is the league’s platform for advancing gender equity in the African sports ecosystem and celebrating women in the sports industry who serve as role models to young women across the continent.
On May 31, BAL will collaborate with Shooting Touch for the second consecutive year to host a basketball event featuring 200 young women from the Bugesera community and the U-23 BAL4HER campers.
The campers will serve as coaches during the clinic and support the reproductive health and rights workshop that will happen during the event.
The tournament
The 2024 BAL playoffs will feature the top eight teams from the regular season. They included FUS Rabat Basketball (Morocco), Petro de Luanda (Angola) and Cape Town Tigers (South Africa) which qualified from the inaugural Kalahari Conference.
Holders Al Ahly (Egypt) and Al Ahly Ly (Libya) represent the Nile Conference while Rivers Hoopers (Nigeria), 2023 runners-up AS Douanes (Senegal) and US Monastir (Tunisia) advance to the playoffs from the Sahara Conference.