Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which has the Washington Capitals and Wizards, distributes 29,000 NBA basketball balls at the NBA to primary school students.
Thousands of young DC students will soon have a new way of staying active as monumental sports and entertainment, the company that has the Washington capital and Wizards, is starting to distribute 29,000 basketball balls the size of NBA regulations to primary school students.
The effort is part of the company’s commitment to extend access to sports for young people, according to the CEO of Monumental Ted Leonsis.
“Going to schools and giving these balls will be very fun,” said Leonsis. “Parents, children, students – it will be something tangible to have an official NBA bullet.”
The plan is to give each student, from kindergarten to the fifth year, a basketball ball in 80 public schools in the city.
“This is a big gift,” said Lewis Ferebee, Chancellor of DC public schools. “(It is) an opportunity to move students, improve physical health, but also to gain athletic skills.”
The first 300 basketball balls will be delivered Thursday at the Browne Education Campus in Northeast DC
Deliveries will continue at a rate of approximately five schools per day, in order to see each student receives a bullet before the spring holidays. Each basketball includes the official Wizards logo and the team colors.
“Sports can have a positive impact on students, whether physical health, mental health, emotional health or social skills,” said Ferebee. “This is another excellent way to show the link between sports and organized activities, and how they help build well balanced students.”
The entire process should take about a month.
“We have to blow up the basketball balls, if you can believe it,” said Leonsis laughing, adding that the employees volunteered to help. “We really work, very hard on this.”
Leonsis said he hoped that it would create lasting memories for students.
“When you say that we give each child a basketball, everyone closes their eyes and just remembers when you have for Christmas, a new baseball glove or football or basketball,” he said.
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