NBA Stars Set Basketball Clinic, Community Service in Compostela, Cebu

With the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) ongoing commitment to help children and families affected by the disaster through its foundation NBA Cares, NBA players Robin Lopez and Wesley Matthews of the Portland Trail Blazers, along with NBA legend Avery Johnson have visited the municipality of Compostela to conduct a basketball clinic and community service.

Together with World Vision Philippines, the players led the basketball clinic at the Compostela gym to teach the local kids some basketball techniques; the gym was filled with crowd who cheer aloud to the NBA stars while playing with the kids during the clinic.

Afterwards the players had traversed a narrow dirt road to get to the Bagalnga Integrated School in Compostela, which is around 5 kilometers away from the town center, for a mural painting in one room of a four-classroom building donated by World Vision as part of their rehabilitation efforts for Yolanda survivors.

According to World Vision Philippines media officer Mikhaela De Leon, the delegation was initially scheduled to visit Tacloban City, but authorities had to shut down the airport for repairs prompting a detour to other Yolanda-hit areas in Cebu.

The NBA Cares, is the league’s global social responsibility program that carries the mission to address important issues in the US and around the world, has contributed more than $2.2 million in support of the relief operations of Typhoon Yolanda, including the $250,000 contribution to World Vision in November last year by the NBA and the National Baskeball Players Association (NBPA).