The Brooklyn Nets will be hosting the winners of a full scholarship to visit Russia as part of the SportsUnited: Basketball Ambassadors of Today and Tomorrow program, designed to promote peer-to-peer exchange between young basketball players and coaches in the US and Russia. They will attend tomorrow’s game vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers at Barclays Center arena.
The group of 14 non-elite high-school basketball players (male and female) and 3 high-school basketball coaches will spend 10 days in Russia, enjoying basketball and cultural experiences designed to promote greater understanding (participant list attached). A group of 31 Russian non-elite coaches will then travel to the United States for professional exchange with their American counterparts.
Brooklyn Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov said: “We are delighted to host the Basketball Ambassadors at tomorrow’s game. The importance of cross-cultural exchange cannot be underestimated. We need to spend time talking with one another, formally and informally, and a shared love of the great game of basketball is the perfect place to start. I wish the American coaches and young players a wonderful trip to Russia and look forward to hosting the Russian participants in March.”
The Program was established by the New York-based Russian American Foundation (RAF) in collaboration with former Nets player and current head of the Russian Basketball Federation Andrei Kirilenko’s initiative School 2.0.
All three Russian NBA players have lent their support to the Program. Sergey Karasev (Nets), Timofey Mozgov (Cavaliers), and Sasha Kaun (Cavaliers) will meet with the participants following the game.
About the Russian American Foundation:
RAF was founded in 1997 with a non-partisan mission to encourage interest in and understanding of Russian heritage among all communities in the U.S., as well as to promote reciprocal interest in American heritage among global communities of the former Soviet Union. RAF’s 18 years of experience in US-Russia exchanges encompasses such programs as: NSLI-Y Russian Language and Culture (Moscow, Russia), NSLI-Y RAF and Bolshoi Way (Moscow, Russia), Annual Bolshoi Ballet Academy Summer Program (NY and CT, US), and Annual Battles on Ice® (NY, US and Moscow, Russia).
For further information:
Aaron Harris, Brooklyn Nets 201-635-3187 aharris@brooklynnets.com
Kirsten Howe, RAF, 212-687-6118 ext. 201 khowe@russianamericanfoundation.org
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