TBE bridges cultural divides through Kosovo program
by Justin Berry
In early September, The Basketball Embassy continued its partnership with PH International (formerly Project Harmony) in the second part of a two-way Youth Leadership Success Project (YLSP) exchange, this time taking a group of American youth and adults to Kosovo for eight days.
The mission: Our program was a subsidiary project for the US Department of State’s Sports Diplomacy division, aimed at using sports (in this case, basketball) to facilitate cultural and leadership exchanges between youth from different countries. The American kids with our group had done little-to-no traveling outside the United States prior to the trip (much less to the Balkans), so it provided a genuinely unique experience for them, with ample opportunities to learn, lead, and interact in an environment much different than their own.
The biggest takeaway: Our project was going to be successful, even if it had been limited to Kosovar Albanians (the ethnic majority in Kosovo) and our American participants. However, thanks to some late complications with a gym we intended to use, the program grew not only in reach—but in scope as well. The gym we acquired happened to be located just outside a nearby town, an easy fifteen-minute drive away from our hotel in Pristina. Coincidentally, most of the inhabitants of that town were ethnic Serbs.
To our young participants, this didn’t mean much at first. The Serbian flags, Cyrillic alphabet on advertisements and businesses, and increased adidas track suits per capita may have been lost on them, but the basketball sessions helped put things into perspective. With the use of this gym came about 20 Serbian kids—kids that the Albanian youth of the same age living no more than five miles away had never met, much less practice or played with. Without turning this into a Balkan history article, let us just say that it’s a complex situation. Even 20 years after the war there (see Kosovo Conflict 1998-1999), current relationships between the two groups are icy…if they exist at all. They differ ethnically (Albanian/Serb), religiously (Muslim/Orthodox), and many have relatives who were directly involved in fighting one another. Because of political implications, teams from this town do not participate in Kosovar leagues, limiting their opportunities in sport.
Through our on-court YLSP sessions, we were able to bring Serbian, Kosovar Albanian, and American kids together in a circumstance that would never have existed otherwise. Enjoying a common bond, they all had a good time, competed with and against each other with zero tension, in a way transcending some of the social barriers that have previously divided them. I don’t know how many Instagram accounts were exchanged, or if these kids will ever share a court again, but what I do know is that they might think twice before they accept someone trying to amplify their differences with one another—and that matters.
Moving forward: We plan for projects like these to become more common in the future, as relationships with both the Department of State and various international non-profit organizations continue to grow. Not only is cultural exchange a huge part of our identity, but it provides us the opportunity to showcase our versatility and the unique nature of what we do. In the last summer alone, The Basketball Embassy led everything from national team and club camps to coaching clinics, international camps, and sports diplomacy missions. The latter provides the ability to generate opportunities for people that may never have surfaced otherwise.
The group of Americans that accompanied us in Kosovo undoubtedly returned home with new experiences, new friendships, and most importantly, new perspectives. We’re just proud that basketball could be the platform.