Prosper of Canada, Argentina's Respaud named MVPs of 11th BWB Americas camp

MEXICO CITY (Mexico) - Juan Ignacio Respaud of Argentina and Canada's Cassandre Prosper were named MVPs of the 11th Basketball Without Borders (BWB) Americas camp as they were among 64 boys and girls campers to receive on-court training from elite players and coaches and also get valuable off-court life lessons.

The campers were predominantly born in 2005 and trained for four days at the La Loma Centro Deportivo at the NBA Academy Latin America in the Mexican city of San Luis Potosi. It was the first time the continental event was held in Mexico since 2009. Among the coaches were NBA players Leandro Bolmaro (Minnesota Timberwolves; Argentina; BWB Americas 2017) and Chris Duarte (Indiana Pacers; Dominican Republic), former NBA player Jorge Gutiérrez (Mexico), and assistant coaches Lindsey Harding (Sacramento Kings), Sidney Lowe (Cleveland Cavaliers), Ron Nored (Pacers), Don Showalter (USA Basketball) and Mitch Thompson (Mexico City Capitanes).

“For me it is a dream”Juan Ignacio Respaud of Argentina

"For me it is a pride, it is something for which I worked hard and for years," Respaud said about participating in the event. "For me it is a dream to be close to the NBA. It's amazing to be around the best players in the world and coming here and playing against them is an amazing experience."

This was the latest international experience for Respaud, who last summer helped Argentina qualify for the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2022 by taking second place at the FIBA U16 Americas Championship 2021. He also was part of the Argentina team which took second place at the FIBA U18 Sudamericano Championship 2022 to book a ticket to next month’s FIBA U18 Americas Championship 2022.

"The truth is that I learned a lot from the players, from each coach. They taught us many important things and things that we don't see or to which we don't give importance. I have learned a lot from this whole experience," he added.

BWB Americas MVPs - Juan Ignacio Respaud of Argentina and Canada's Cassandre Prosper 

About the camp, the girls MVP Prosper said: "It was definitely a great experience - just learning from a lot of different coaches and NBA players: learning about different steps of basketball and concepts. I expected it to be good and it was amazing."

Prosper helped guide Canada to second place at the FIBA U16 Women's Americas Championship 2021 and will play this summer at the FIBA U17 Women's Basketball World Cup 2022.

The camp included games of teams made up of the campers, and the Bucks and Mercury won in the boys and girls championship games, respectively. Mercury trailed by two points in the closing seconds when Sienna Cherwinski of Colombia hit a buzzer-beater a few feet from halfcourt to give the team a 23-22 win over Sky. Kennan Emmanuel of Canada poured in 10 points to help Bucks to a 28-23 victory over Pacers.

 
Nogbou Chris Tadjo of Canada was named Defensive MVP while Gualberto Landavazo Gallegos of Mexico received the Patrick Baumann Sportsmanship Award and Keven Adorno Gonzalez from Puerto Rico won the three-point contest.

Argentina's Dagmar Hentschel was distinguished as the girls Defensive MVP with Mexico’s Erica Marie Carr Ramos given the Patrick Baumann Sportsmanship Award and Puerto Rico’s Franchesca Torres won the camp’s three-point contest.

BWB Americas All-Stars

Boys: Maximiliano Antunez (Uruguay), Rodrigo Gabriel Aybar (Dominican Republic), Eduardo Bersch Klafke (Brazil), Santiago Camacho (Mexico), Keenan Emmanuel (Canada), Kaden Jahnii Gumbs (U.S. Virgin Islands), Juan Ignacio Respaud (Argentina), Ishan Vats Sharma (Canada), Nogbou Chris Tadjo (Canada), Guzman Vasilic Delgado (Uruguay)
Girls: Lucia Auza (Uruguay), Erica Marie Carr Ramos (Mexico), Sienna Cherwinski (Colombia), Toby Fournier (Canada), Arianny Francisco de Oliveira (Brazil), Ajok Madol (Canada), Ana Beatriz Passos Alves Da Silva (Brazil), Cassandre Prosper (Canada)

FIBA