Malian Basketball Players Participate in Sports Diplomacy Program in Washington, DC

April 2009

Malian basketball players pose with students on the court.

Malian basketball players pose with students off the court.

Thanks to ECA’s Sports Diplomacy program, in April 2009, twelve Malian basketball players between the ages of 15 and 17 participated in a two week basketball program in the Washington, DC area.  The program afforded the children, and their two coaches, an unforgettable opportunity to improve their basketball skills and to interact with their American counterparts.  The children returned to Mali with even clearer dreams of studying, and playing, in the United States and many have already started to study English.  One of the coaches summed up the positive experience saying “the most important lessons that these children learned was that success depends on hard work and effort.  It has encouraged them to be more serious in their studies and their sport.”