HERMOSILLO, SONORA - The Mini Basketball Festival of the Americas and Congress will take place in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, January 30 to February 3 with the presence of FIBA President Horacio Muratore. In addition, the facilities of the newly remodeled Gimnasio del Estado will be officially inaugurated.

 
The city of Hermosillo, Sonora, is preparing to provide a great celebration of Mini, a perfect scenario where the fun, learning, love for the game and friendship prevail. The Festival is designed for young players, coaches, physical education teachers, students of careers related to physical culture and sports, parents, sports leaders, referees and the general public.

Yesterday a welcome dinner was held for all of the teams, coaches, delegates to the congress and exponents, as well as FIBA members, the Organizing Committee and special guests. Today, the official inauguration of the Festival and the Congress will be celebrated at the Parque Infantil Sonora with the presence of FIBA President Horacio Muratore, the FIBA Americas President Usie Richards, FIBA Americas Executive Director Carlos Alves, the President of the FIBA Americas Youth Commission Mario Méndez, the Director of the International Foundation Florian Wanninger and Mexican authorities.

The venues assigned to develop all the activities of the weekend will be the Parque Infantil, Unidad Deportiva del Noroeste, Unidad Deportiva de Hermosillo, Hotel Araiza and the Gimnasio del Estado.

Attending the Festival will be teams from Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Panama, the Dominican Republic, the Cayman Islands, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Honduras and Mexico as the organizing country. Players from the age of 6 to 12 will participate and at the end of the event, all of the participants will be awarded a medal.

The philosophy of the Festival originates from FIBA’s belief that the event’s core mission should be the enjoyment of basketball, while learning, developing skills, coexisting, and building bonds of friendships.

There will be more than 2,500 competitors from various countries, 200 coaches, 9 conferences with international exponents and 5 practical workshops. In order to convey the message of the importance of support for children within the FIBA Mini Basketball philosophy, during the 4 days different lectures will be held, workshops that will transmit sports values and a fundamental tool for their integral education as a transcendent part of the global Mini Basketball movement. In addition, FIBA promotes within the topics to be discussed at the International Congress, its philosophy, the role of the coach, the methodology, the role of the parent, among other topics.

Attendees of the Congress are 25 delegates from Federations and International Countries that FIBA chose based on their present with the development of the Mini Basketball. In addition, 400 congressmen from all the states of Mexico will join the Congress.

On behalf of FIBA, the Congress was attended by its President, Horacio Muratore, as well as its Executive Director in the Americas, Carlos Alves, and the newly elected President of COCABA, Mario Méndez.

"We are very pleased to officially open this Mini Basketball Festival of the Americas and Congress in Hermosillo, which is the best representation of the International Basketball Federation's vision to expand the sport and make basketball the most practiced sport around the world, as well as our mission to promote and develop the sport to unite communities. It was very important for me to be here, because these children and their love for basketball is the future of our sport and it fills me with great joy to see all the players, associations, coaches, referees, and parents fully involved in working to build a better future." said Muratore.

Hermosillo, capital of the state of Sonora, has a population of 884,273 inhabitants, today is the host of this unique event.

FIBA