PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — How does playing in a basketball league associated with the pros sound?
This fall, the NBA and WNBA launched the Jr. NBA Leagues, professionally led recreational basketball leagues for kids ages 6 to 14. The 76ers are among eight professional teams helping to get the effort off the ground. Philadelphia is one of 10 participating markets.
Part of the idea behind the program was to provide kids with more access to sports, which has not fully rebounded from the pandemic as much as club and travel hoops.
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Mike Goings, Sixers vice president of social responsibility and fan development, said the goal is to make it the largest program in the country.
“The real purpose of it is to get more kids playing and to really disrupt the current structures that exist within youth basketball and really ignite some more excitement around kids ages 6 to 14 playing basketball,” Goings said over the summer shortly after the initial announcement.
He said the Sixers organization couldn’t pass up being on the ground floor of this program.
“It was a no-brainer,” he added. “We have some good programs, but we struggled to scale. … So with [the NBA and WNBA] coming in and joining forces, it really allowed us to really focus on more of the engagement with the local audience.
“They have the resources to really grow and expand what we already were doing here in-market.”
Philadelphia makes perfect sense to be one of the launch cities because of its rich basketball history — one that already has a huge footprint in the community.
“We wanted to go to a diverse set of markets so that we could learn as much as possible in this initial rollout,” said Adam Harper, NBA associate vice president of youth basketball development. “Philadelphia, naturally, came to mind as one of those cities — there’s an NBA team that’s already active in their community. How can we work in tandem with the team to provide an elevated experience for youth in that area?”
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Goings said the NBA will manage all operations and offer a balance of development and competition, while Sixers will focus on engaging with the kids.
“They’ll be able to take pride in wearing their local team’s jersey,” he said. “One of our goals is to get as many kids wearing Sixers jerseys as possible. I can remember in those down days where I would walk around and I would see kids wearing Cavaliers jerseys and Lakers jerseys, and I would just shake my head. I’m like, we got to change this. That’s been a big goal of ours, and now with the NBA coming in, it’ll be a little bit easier to make that happen.”
In the Philadelphia area, there are six confirmed Jr. NBA Leagues. Four of them are still accepting registrations:
La Liga Del Barro
League Dates: Dec. 2 - April 29, 2023
422 Sportsplex
League Dates: Nov. 19 - Jan. 7, 2023
*Accepting registrations until Nov. 14
Drop Squad Athletics
League Dates: Jan. 9 - March 6, 2023
YMCA of Bucks and Hunterdon Counties
League Dates: Dec. 3 - Feb. 18, 2023
Registration is closed for the Philly Youth Basketball and United Sports leagues.
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