AntetokounBros Academy: Season 3 is completed - The first friendly games, scholarships, and a celebratory closing ceremony
From their first dribble of a ball through to their first friendly games. From their first training session through to international sporting and educational scholarships. From their first warm-up routine to this year’s closing ceremony – every athlete at the AntetokounBros Academy has taken giant leaps forward this season.
Photo: Andreas Simopoulos
The AntetokounBros Academy is a pioneering initiative that combines basketball with education and training with inspiration. A place where sport is a means to spark development and growth, not an end in and of itself. This basketball academy dreamed up and founded by Giannis, Thanasis, Kostas, and Alex Antetokounmpo – and run with the support of Nike, the Onassis Foundation, and the Eurohoops Organization – seeks to empower young people from vulnerable social groups.
This year’s season saw 100 athletes and 12 junior coaches set out on a journey of self-improvement, with basketball as their vehicle. Many of the children had never even touched a basketball before. Guided by the Antetokounmpo brothers, and by the love and know-how offered up by Head Coach Evina Maltsi and her entire team of coaches, the children reached the point where they could play their first full games.
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The season climax included a series of events that went above and beyond the Academy’s scheduled training sessions, with friendly games played against the Olympiacos Basketball Academy proving a particular highlight. Before they could play against athletes from one of the best clubs in Greece, our students needed to be truly well prepared. With this in mind, the AntetokounBros Academy organized its first internal 3x3 tournament. On the Ellinorosson courts, fellow students found themselves rivals for the first time. The children got the chance to learn the rules and guiding principles of this newly-minted Olympic sport, and to utilize everything they’d been taught by their coaches throughout the season: to respect their rivals, to trust their teammates, to believe in their abilities, and – of course – to shoot hoops. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the games and, once done, the coaches applauded the efforts of all the teams and handed out commemorative medals.
Photo: Pinelopi Gerasimou
Photo: Andreas Simopoulos