Chris Dial

President/CEO, Founder

Chris Dial was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. He is a product of East Central High School and Texas Lutheran University, where he was a member of the men’s basketball team and graduated with degrees in Political Science and Psychology. Chris later attended Texas State University and completed a Master’s program in International Studies, which has aided in his endeavors in sports diplomacy.

Chris was a high school varsity basketball coach at the public and private school level in the San Antonio area from 2000 to 2015. In 2009 he formalized a working relationship with the Turkish Basketball Federation has taken him to over 50 towns and cities in Turkey. Chris began a similar working relationship with the Romanian Basketball Federation in 2011 through the graces of his friends in Turkey. Chris has been a head coach now, in both Federations' summer programs and has directed and run over 90 international camps and clinics designed to assist the players and coaches in these countries in their quest to achieve greatness through sport, specifically basketball.

His international basketball relationships have taken him to Turkey, Romania, Greece, Israel, Palestine, Northern Cyprus, Kosovo, Albania, Macedonia, San Marino, Georgia, Bulgaria, Moldova, Estonia and Sweden. In the Fall of 2014 Chris legitimized what had been a long time dream with the creation of The Basketball Embassy. The Basketball Embassy is currently working with multiple National Federations, providing programs specific to those countries' needs.

In June of 2015, Chris and The Basketball Embassy hosted the inaugural Basketball Embassy Assembly, featuring a collection of players and coaches from the international community as well as American players seeking to extend their basketball careers into the American college and university systems. This well-received camp continues to grow in scope and significance every year and as featured participants from nearly 20 countries.

Chris is a FIBA licensed coach, a member of the San Antonio Area Association of Basketball Coaches and the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches, in addition to a number of International Coaching organizations. He has served as a guest lecturer in FIBA Europe's Youth Gathering (Sofia, Bulgaria); he has been featured on Global Austin's Sports Diplomacy Panel (Austin, TX). Chris has appeared on a number of international television and radio broadcasts related to basketball development and has appeared in articles both locally in Texas, nationally in The Washington Post and internationally in publications on 4 different continents. 

After initiating and creating basketball programming for homeless facilities in San Antonio like Haven for Hope and SAMM Ministries, Chris is continuing to find ways to utilize his relationships with the San Antonio Spurs and USA Basketball to continue to give back to local communities through basketball.