NAIROBI — Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) men's Premier League champions Nairobi City Thunder have received a timely boost ahead of their second appearance at the Basketball Africa League (BAL).

The national champions have renewed their partnership with American-based Nexford University that will see its players benefit from scholarship opportunities.

The club's head of partnerships, Marcel Awori, says the partnership goes a long way in fulfilling their mission of enhancing their players' lives, beyond the court.

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"With such a partnership, we are enabling our athletes to be successful on and off the court. We are conscious of life after the sport and during the sport," he said.

Speaking at the same time, Nexford University CEO Fadl Al Tarzi said the institution is motivated to enable athletes to make the most of their sporting talents while giving them a life after retirement.

"We have been learning a lot about athletes who struggle when they sort of pause their careers. We have been doing a lot of analysis of how we can help athletes across the world," Tarzi said.

NCT - as they are also known - will be making their second appearance in the prestigious BAL competition after a dream debut in the past season's competition.

They became the first Kenyan team to reach the group phase of the continental competition, where they featured in the Nile Conference.

However, it was a rude reality check for coach Brad Ibs' charges who came away with one win only - an 85-76 victory over South Africa's Made By Basketball (MBB) - while losing four games.

They will have the chance to go at it again with the big boys when they begin their journey in the East Division before hosting the Elite 16 round in Nairobi - as they did last year to book their ticket to the group phase.

NCT will undoubtedly be buoyed by their second consecutive crown this year after beating Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) in the final.