By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Larger than ever will be the participation of the teams in the corporate social responsibility programme of Euroleague Basketball, “One Team”. This season will take part all the Euroleague teams and ten teams from the Eurocup.
Here is the press release by the Euroleague:
“Representatives of 34 clubs from the Turkish Airlines Euroleague and the Eurocup have come together in Valencia, Spain this week to tip off a new season of activities for One Team, the corporate social responsibility programme of Euroleague Basketball. The fifth annual One Team Workshop was also attended by One Team ambassadors and partners, with everyone involved sharing their experience and expertise in order to keep the widely acclaimed programme growing in communities across Europe and beyond.
One Team is the corporate social responsibility project created by Euroleague Basketball to use the practice of basketball as a tool to integrate at-risk communities in 14 countries through grass-roots activities that have reached more than 10,000 participants to date thanks to the help of Turkish Airlines, the Founding Patron of One Team.
One Team enters the 2015-16 season stronger than ever, with every single club in the 24-team Euroleague taking part, boosted by the addition of newcomers Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul, Pinar Karsiyaka Izmir, Stelmet Zielona Gora and Strasbourg. At the same time, Umana Reyer Venice and Dolomiti Energia Trento have joined the cause to bring the list of Eurocup teams to 10.
This week’s workshop attendees were able to hear and learn from a series of distinguished guests: Ms. Adrienne Regan, Director of Corporate Partnerships, and Ms. Suzanne Coogan, Head of Media and Public Awareness, for One Team partner Special Olympics Europe/ Eurasia; Mr. Steven Jardine, Operations Manager at Streetleague; Mr. James Mapstone, Founder and Managing Director at Second Change; and Mr. Marc Ros Samsó, Founder and CEO of AFTERSHARE.TV.
One Team put the workshop together in collaboration with partners thinkBeyond and Coaching For Hope and with the operative support of the local club Valencia Basket. Among the goals of the workshop were to provide operative, communication and funding advice to the clubs’ One Team staff to ensure continued improvement of each team’s projects.
“The importance of One Team and the success of the projects undertaken by our clubs cannot be overstated,” Mr. Jordi Bertomeu, Euroleague Basketball President and CEO, said. “We feel great pride when we see not only how many teams and partners are eager to join us on our path, but how former Euroleague stars also wish to take on important roles to help in their communities.”
A handful of former players attended the workshop on behalf of their teams, including: Doron Jamchy as Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv’s One Team Ambassador; Alain Digbeu as Galatasaray Istanbul’s One Team Manager; Vitaly Nosov as Khimki Moscow Region’s One Team Ambassador; and Victor Luengo as Valencia Basket’s One Team Manager”.