Riding on the wave of popularity of the sport in communities and its players overseas, the Jamaica Basketball Association (JaBA) has embarked on a Reading Is Key programme at basic, primary and preparatory schools to widen the base of its premier competition, the National Basketball League (NBL).

The programme involves NBL players reading stories to three, four, and five-year-old students and sharing their childhood days.

Since the start of the month the Drewsland Basic School and the Majesty Gardens Basic School has benefited, with JaBA also agreeing to donate several gallons of paint for Drewsland Basic to wear a new coat.

JaBA president Ajani Williams said: “Our objective is to instil in children that reading is important and that literacy is key. There are even many aspects in Maths wherein the literacy issue can create a challenge for a child to lack the ability to understand questions from GSAT level all the way up to collegiate level as they are word-based questions.

“We wanted to take a realistic approach to some of the woes facing the children,” added Williams, who owns several companies and authors a couple of books.

JaBA vice-president Richard Pollack, who attend Drewsland Basic School, noted “this was a day to remember”.

Braves Chiefs player Lloyd Cruickshank, a professional graphic artist, will apply his trade on the walls of the school on the requests of the children.

Meanwhile, at the Majesty Gardens Basic School, community of NBL star Kemar McLeish and key player for Majesty Gardens Legends, was shown by NBL sponsors FLOW the use of technology in reading. “It’s a great feeling to be able to show the youngster the importance of reading and the value of sports,” McLeish said.

FLOW public relations manager Denise Williams, happy at the partnership with JaBA, stated that the response from the children was “encouraging”.

“As a company we have been actively involved in bringing technology to schools in general but… we are particularly pleased to further work with JaBA on this initiative,” she pointed out. Flow made presentations of exercise and colouring books to all the children and teachers. Marketing partners Sportsmax was on hand to capture the event.

Basketball’s chief operations officer Keisha Lindsay added that JaBa “will continue with a few more schools before the season wraps up and will become a part of our mandate for years to come.”