The first ever School Basketball Festival held in Yoshkar-Ola (the Mari El Republic) within the framework of opening the Interregional Championship of IES-BASKET School Basketball League finished on September 26, 2009. During three days (September 24-26) 38 basketball teams (boys and girls) from 19 regions of Russia were fighting for victory. They came from many regions and autonomous republics: Nizhny Novgorod Region, Novosibirsk Region, Tyumen Region, Ulyanovsk Region, Samara Region, Saratov Region, Orenburg Region, Penza Region, Sverdlovsk Region, Omsk Region, Perm Territory, the Republic of Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, Udmurtia, Chuvashia, Komi, Mari El, and even from small towns of Cherkessk and Slavyansk-on-Kuban. The Festival was organized by IES-BASKET School Basketball League, Government of the Mari El Republic and the National Basketball Association. National Basketball Project and Students Basketball Association have become partners of the event. The list of honorary guests of the festival includes many famous people: Sergey Ivanov, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Government, Leonid Markelov, President of the Mari El Republic, Grigory Rapota, Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Volga Federal District and Chairman of IES-BASKET School Basketball League Trustee Board; Sergey Kushchenko, Member of National Basketball Project Trustee Board; Sergey Chernov, President of Russian Basketball Federation; Mikhail Slobodin, IES-Holding President and IES-BASKET President; Aleksandr Zarubin, Deputy Board Chairman of RENOVA Group; Anton Sikharulidze, Chairman of Sports, and Physical Culture Committee of the State Duma; Vladimir Chumakov, Minister of Sports, Physical Culture and Tourism of the Mari El Republic; Igor Donato, Member of the Legislative Assembly of the Nizhny Novgorod Region and Chairman of Center for Social-Conservative Policy of the Volga Federal District; and many other famous Russian politicians and public persons. The Festival had different events: basketball, street basketball, Peterbasket, and master-classes conducted by basketball stars. Famous basketball players - Olympic champion Sergey Belov, Euro League champion Sergey Panov; an NBA and ABA living legend, former Los Angeles Lakers Star A.C. Green, and a famous American coach Mike Fratello - conducted master-classes and seminars for coaches and players. Opening of the 2009/2010 Interregional Championship of IES-BASKET School Basketball League was the central event of the Festival. On the final day of the Festival, honorary guests (famous Russian politicians, businessmen and NBA legends) played against the combined team of the Festival participants. The game ended in a draw (32:32). |
