Luol Deng Foundation’s main mission is to provide means for Africa’s children and adults alike
with access to the most basic human needs from shelter to water, and health to education.

‘It is not where you ball, it’s how you ball’

Date: TBC
Venue: Crystal Palace Sports Centre
Player Age: Under 18’s
Admission: Adults £5 one day/£7 both days.
Children £3 one day/£5 both days

Ballin’ Without Postcodes aims to tackle the ongoing Postcode War issues within London through a basketball tournament. The tournament will showcase the most talented under 18 year old boys and girl’s basketball players from all over London representing a sense of community, talent and achievement. The tournament will include 8 teams (x4 boys and x4 girls) where each team will include a player that resides from every part of London in order to represent that “it is not where you ball, but how you ball”. The finals will be played on the second day with musical performances also present. The event will include high profile celebrities who support the cause and also LDF’s mission to help give back to the community in the UK and Sudan, Africa.

The mission of renovating the basketball court in Aweil, South Sudan is still ongoing and progressing. Ballin’ Without Postcodes will help LDF to reach this goal where all proceeds from the event will go towards the renovation of the basketball court. Basketball is a very popular sport in Africa, where the renovation of the court, alongside the donations of clothes and shoes we received through LDF Spring Clinics will make a huge difference to the lives and community in Aweil, Sudan.

Young people that live within London are very territorial and have a real sense of pride from which postal code area they live in. This has been shown to cause violence and crime where many young people avoid straying into different parts of London other than their own for fear of being a victim of crime.

A Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) study found many youths stayed in their own locales or 'endz' for their own personal safety.

Teenagers consulted for the MPA report cited one of the reasons for violence on bus journeys, travelling to or from school, was because they had entered areas that were not part of their own territories. Young people also spoke about avoiding the top deck of buses; avoiding particular bus routes at particular times of the day and even making decisions about which was the safest bus stop to begin or end a journey at. (BBC News, May 2009).

Ballin’ Without Postcodes will help to educate and demonstrate that young people can work together regardless of which part of London they live. The event will also help to bring the London community together by boasting basketball players from different postcodes in each team demonstrating teamwork by working together towards a common goal.

The event will also provide many with the opportunity to not only learn about the people of south Sudan but affect there lives in a positive way, in particular the younger generation.

LDF recognise that Ballin’ Without Postcodes can have sustainability and can continue to be an annual event to help tackle issues surrounding crime and youths within London.