OAXACA, Oaxaca. (appro).- With the purpose of supporting and uniting the communities of Latin America through basketball, the NBA started a program to remodel courts throughout the continent and Oaxaca is one of the states that will benefit from this initiative.
The Zapotec indigenous municipality of Ixtlán de Juárez, Oaxaca, was included in the program to renovate basketball courts in Latin America within the framework of the 75th anniversary of the creation of the renowned professional basketball league in the United States.
The NBA (National Basketball Association) will remodel the court with a unique design, therefore, the Mexican illustrator and musician, Reez Ruiz, works with a group of local artists to design the court, including Julio Silva and Oscar Akzo.
The project started in Mexico on March 13 in Torreón, Coahuila, with the painting of the first field in the country and continues in Ixtlán de Juárez, a project that is scheduled to end in the last week of April with an official inauguration.
For the opening event, a “Her Time To Play” youth basketball clinic will be held, a shooting contest, with an investment of 500 thousand pesos.
They mentioned that each renovated court will recognize the historic NBA 75th Anniversary season, while continuing the league’s legacy of supporting and uniting the communities of Latin America through basketball.
The most iconic and emblematic place of Oaxacan basketball is the municipality of Ixtlán de Juárez, located in the Sierra Norte, just over 60 kilometers from the city of Oaxaca and home to one of the most important tournaments in the country, the “Copa Benito Juárez”, which seeks the brotherhood of the natives of that region regardless of their residence.
Ricardo Torres, director of the project, in coordination with the Institute of Physical Culture and Sports of Oaxaca (Incude Oaxaca), chose Ixtlán as part of the project, which was already visited prior to the intervention of the field.
The remodeling initiative by the NBA aims to remain focused on using basketball to make a lasting difference in communities in Latin America.
It also seeks community engagement and youth basketball development to grow the game, and a commitment to bring people together by creating places for them to practice the sport, as in the case of Ixtlán de Juárez.
This is a new initiative of NBA Cares in Latin America to renovate basketball courts, to create and dedicate more than 50 new NBA Cares Live, Learn or Play centers (places to live, learn and play) during the 2021-2022 season.
Each court will have unique designs that show the history and culture of the place where they are held and in Mexico the initiative began on March 13 in Torreón, Coahuila, with the painting of the first court in the country.
Regarding Oaxaca, the painting work is scheduled to end in the last week of April with the official inauguration.
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Ixtlán de Juárez is not the home of the “Copa Benito Juárez”, it is the village of San Pablo Guelatao, Oaxaca, Mexico. Which is located near by