We are thrilled to announce a transformative three-year partnership with Nike Community Impact that will significantly expand our capacity to serve students across Chennai, Bangalore, and Hyderabad. This partnership represents the largest corporate commitment in Hoops Creating Hope history.

Under the agreement, Nike will provide annual equipment grants including basketballs, shoes, and training gear for all active students in our program. For many of our kids, this will be the first time they own a proper pair of basketball shoes. That might sound like a small thing, but when you have watched students practice barefoot on concrete courts in 40-degree heat, you understand what a pair of shoes means. It means dignity. It means being taken seriously. It means being part of something real.

Beyond equipment, Nike will fund facility upgrades at six of our existing courts. This includes proper surfacing, lighting for evening practices, and covered seating for families who come to watch. Our Kukatpally court in Hyderabad, which we resurfaced just last year, will receive full lighting that allows us to run evening sessions for students who attend afternoon school shifts.

The partnership also includes coaching development. Three of our senior coaches will participate in Nike coaching certification programs, and Nike will send two coaching consultants to work with our staff for one month each year. This investment in our coaches is perhaps the most valuable part of the deal. Our coaches are the backbone of everything we do, and giving them world-class development makes the entire program stronger.

We want to be transparent: this partnership comes with no strings attached regarding branding or curriculum changes. Nike approached us because they believed in our model, and the agreement preserves our complete independence in how we run our programs. We are grateful for partners who understand that the best way to help is to invest in what already works and then get out of the way.