The NCAA has partnered with the NBA, the National Federation of State High School Associations, USA Basketball, the men’s and women’s coaches associations, shoe companies and the Amateur Athletic Union in an initiative to add new structure to youth basketball.

NCAA President Myles Brand and NBA Commissioner David Stern announced at a news conference today in San Antonio an unprecedented agreement among the major stakeholders in the sport to create an initiative that will offer an alternative structure to that which currently exists at the youth level.

The initiative will have its own president and will include board members from various stakeholders, including the high school federation, USA Basketball, the AAU and the shoe companies, with leadership from the NCAA and NBA. Though a location for the operation has not yet been determined, the new initiative will have an administrative staff and offer programming that ultimately will benefit anyone – male and female – who plays the game throughout the year.

“This organization will offer programming that will cater first to young men in the summer environment – because those are the immediate problem areas – but ultimately the new structure will benefit anyone involved in the sport,” Brand said.

Stern said it was the NBA’s duty to be involved in this initiative.

 “Our mission statement can be roughly divided into two parts. One is to grow the spectacular sport that is our passion, we do that through the NBA, the WNBA and the NBA Development League to generally promote our sport on a global basis. Two, we believe that the celebrity of our players and teams requires us and obligates us to be leaders, and we take that responsibility.”

The initiative will sanction leagues, tournaments, camps and year-round development opportunities –the events at which NCAA coaches may attend.

Brand and Stern said the new structure is designed to negate the effects of third-party influences currently working the youth basketball environment. Stakeholders believe there are many good coaches and opportunities for youth outside of scholastic basketball, but the current structure affords access from people who may not have the player’s best interests at heart.

“We find third parties – sometimes with good intentions and sometimes not – encouraging young men to prepare for professional basketball, and only for professional basketball,” Brand said.

Georgia Tech coach and President of Black Coaches and Administrators Paul Hewitt said the environment around youth basketball had become dysfunctional.

"In general it just lacks direction. The vast majority of the people in youth basketball are trying to do something positive in getting kids exposure," Hewitt said. "I can’t emphasize enough educating parents and players . You often hear kids walking off the court saying ‘I just played against a tenth ranked player and I’m better than him. If he can go in the NBA draft, I can go in the NBA draft.’ Invariably that leads to bad decisions.”

Less than 1 percent of Division I basketball players ever get drafted by the NBA, and only 1 percent of all high school players ever realize an opportunity to play in Division I. Thus the likelihood of being drafted by the NBA is about 1 percent of 1 percent for high school players.

Brand said that is why tying education to youth basketball is such an important part of the initiative.

“Even for elite athletes at the youth level who have the most potential to excel in the professional ranks, so much can go wrong along the way – injuries, changes in family situations, being overlooked by scouts,” Brand said. “There is no sure bet for a young person to realize his professional basketball dream. They need a Plan B, and that is an education.”

The new effort will build summer programs and teams that are cognizant of the needs of young people, including an assurance that key health-related protections are in place, and the provision of coaches and officials who are better trained to perform their functions. The structure also will reconnect education with the sport at the youth level – most especially education about being successful beyond the game.

“We are seeing in youth basketball a decoupling of education and basketball, and unsavory influences that drive young men to practice basketball in lieu of pursuing an education,” Brand said.

He emphasized that the initiative is not an attempt to regulate the environment. Rather, by combining the efforts of the NBA, NCAA, USA Basketball, NFHS and the shoe companies, “we believe we can have a dominant role in the marketplace and assist young people and their families to better understand what the real opportunities are and to take advantage of them. The NCAA will not own this initiative, nor will it be an arm of the NCAA – it will be a free-standing organization in which the NCAA and NBA will be the primary partners.”

The initiative also includes a Web-based technology component to communicate news and programming to players and their families, as well as to coaches, officials and event organizers.

The partnership is the culmination of more than two years of discussion among the sport’s key stakeholders, who have agreed that the status of youth basketball is the sport’s most serious challenge.

“I am pleased that the time has arrived in which are collaborating with like-thinking partners to collectively make a difference,” Brand said.