NCAA-accredited exposure camp to help Kiwi basketballers pitch skills to US College Scouts

In a new development for Kiwis seeking scholarships abroad, Basketball New Zealand will be hosting an NCAA athlete exposure camp for girls.

The camp will be held in Auckland on 26 April in partnership with Premier Basketball Report (PBR), a basketball recruiting service that helps connect youth with college scouts. PBR already holds well-established camps in Australia.

The camp will give Kiwi girls the opportunity to showcase their basketball skills to American College Division 1 Coaches. High Performance Manager, Leonard King, says these coaches can assess and evaluate the players skills, which could be the beginning for those seeking opportunities to attend a US college on a basketball scholarship.

"This is the first ever NCAA accredited exposure activity held in New Zealand. The camp has been a long time coming with a lot of discussion behind the scenes for some months, but now we are really excited to partner with PBR and bring this fantastic opportunity to New Zealanders.

"Its another example of Basketball New Zealand investing in our junior programs as we continue our efforts to create a world-class high-performance system. This is, without a doubt, a very significant achievement," said King today.

By NCAA rules, any NCAA accredited exposure camps must be held during an NCAA evaluation period. There are only three evaluation periods each year. Coach King says it is fortunate that NCAA coaches are willing to come all the way to New Zealand evaluate our players when time is short.

"We want this to become a regular fixture in our High-Performance calendar and a part of the athlete pathway.

"Our kids pay a lot of money to play basketball, so this is one way in which BBNZ can help reduce the costs for those kids wanting to achieve an American scholarship without having to pay to travel to the USA.

"In the past, these exposure camps were limited only to the USA and our players would have to spend thousands of dollars travelling to the States for a chance to get in front of American college coaches. Now New Zealanders will have that same opportunity on our home soil," said King.

King says this is a pilot to begin with but, if all goes well, they hope to offer Kiwi boys the same opportunity.

This announcement comes just days after the announcement that Custom College Recruiting (CCR) closed its doors. Mr King says this camp has been in planning long before now.

"CCRs insolvency was quite a shock. We will continue to look for opportunities that we believe are suitable and willing to back. These NCAA accredited camps are a step up and could be the beginning of something special for the right kind of player and student," said King.

All players that are already in the Aon New Zealand Under 17 and Under 19 teams will get the chance to do the camp exclusively in the morning of their National Talent Camp. Then, that afternoon, a public camp will be held and open to girls in Grades 9 to 13 who wish to attend at a cost of $100 per player.

Players do not need to be registered with an Association and do not need to be playing for a high school team. The open camp will be held on Friday 26 April from 12:00 noon to 5:00pm at the Bruce Pulman Arena in Takanini.

Players can register for the camp here:
https://premierbasketballtournaments.com/showcase/2019-pbr-exposure-plus-international-camp---auckland/general-information/overview

- This story has been automatically published using a media release from Basketball New Zealand