BİDEV opened its 10th basketball court in Adıyaman.

The Basketball Support and Education Foundation (BİDEV) opened its 10th basketball court at Şehit Ahmet Demir Middle School in Adıyaman as part of the ‘BİDEV Step for Basketball in Villages’ project.

Established with the aim of contributing to the development of qualified basketball players in Turkey and supporting the sport of basketball, BİDEV has opened its 10th basketball court in Adıyaman. The court, constructed by BİDEV with the contributions of Erol Tabanca, a founding board member of BİDEV and Chairman of Polimeks Holding, also saw the Ahbap Association participate as a strategic partner.

The opening ceremony of the court was attended by BİDEV Board Member Arif Aytekin, who is responsible for the ‘BİDEV Step for Basketball in Villages’ Project, Haluk Levent, the President of the Ahbap Association, District Governor Tarık Buğra Seyhan, Deputy Mayor Ahmet İşler, District Police Chief Talip Gönül, District National Education Director Ali Şeyh Özdemir, District Gendarmerie Commander Mehmet Yaman, school principals, and BİDEV Board of Trustees members, former national basketball player Tamer Oyguç, BİDEV Board Members Sema Kasapoğlu, Handan Özbek, BİDEV Project Coordinator Turhan Koray, BİDEV Board of Trustees members, and project organization responsible Murat Toz, Serhat Toptancı, and BİDEV Step Project Regional Responsible Emre Mahmut Şimşek.

In his speech at the opening, BİDEV Board Member Arif Aytekin said, “Since our establishment in 2020, we have been working to contribute to the physical and mental development of children and youth through sports and to facilitate community access to basketball. With the ‘BİDEV Step for Basketball in Villages’ social responsibility project, we are providing basketball courts to schools in need. Today, we are gifting a basketball court to this school in Adıyaman.”

Since 2022, we have reached over 7,000 children in 9 provinces

Aytekin noted that since 2022, they have reached over 7,000 children in 9 provinces as part of the project, saying, “We aim for 400 students to benefit from our court at Adıyaman Şehit Ahmet Demir Middle School. In addition to the courts, we provide training equipment and sports material support to the school team athletes. We also provide basic basketball, leadership, and personal development training to physical education and basketball coaches in the regions. We are in constant contact with our schools and instructors. We monitor the needs, additional requests, and successes of school teams if any. Our goal is to reach all 81 provinces.”

“BİDEV serves a very valuable purpose”

Haluk Levent, the President of the Ahbap Association, stated, “As an association, we have rebuilt 19 schools that were destroyed after the earthquake on February 6, and currently, thousands of students are continuing their education in these schools. We are also working hard for our schools under construction in Hatay to meet with students as soon as possible. Today, we are together for the opening of BİDEV’s 10th basketball court in Adıyaman. We thank BİDEV for serving a very valuable purpose.”