Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria : The All Stars Festival of the 12 Giant Men Basketball Academies (12 DABO) was held for the 14th time

2001 was a significant year for Turkish Basketball. The European Basketball Championship hosted by Turkey was becoming more and more popular as the Turkish National Basketball Team '12 Giant Men' were getting to the finals.

There was an important question that came into minds in those days: 'How to create an awareness among youth to basketball?'. The answer to this question was; to create the awareness with the heroes like 12 Giant Men.

'12 Giant Men' set a role model for many young children that dreamed to be successful basketball players in the future. However, the tournament lasted only for two weeks and its effects could only be temporary. The will and the potentials had to be processed in its aftermath.

And Garanti, as being a bank which highlights basketball love at the core of its sponsorship, created a brand new project in 2002. That was how 12 Giant Men Basketball Academies (12 DABO) story started.

Today there are coaches, who started as young basketball players at 12 DABO, now training new generations'

The 12 DABO project was initiated with the inspiration driven from the 12 Giant Men, aiming that the basketball culture should be adopted by larger audiences and popularized.

The project is targeting to introduce basketball to children across the nation from early ages and make them love basketball and grow up within the culture of sports.

12 DABO offers a variety of curricula for students in winter and summer seasons aside from all other activities and also extends equally towards the 81 provinces of Turkey, welcoming young performers of sports from all around the nation. The '12 DABO All Star Festival' is a peerless opportunity for these young people to get to know each other and learn about both competition and friendship.

This year, 'The All Star Festival of the 12 Giant Men Basketball Academies (12 DABO)' was held for the 14th time in Ankara, on 17-19 November.

The project succeeds in getting in touch with around four thousand children every year. Today there are coaches, who started as young basketball players at 12 DABO, now training new generations.