TBE Completes First Leg of American-Tunisian Sports Diplomacy Program in D.C.
The American and Tunisian governments worked together this summer to create an exchange program for 12 of its most accomplished basketball coaches and administrators. In collaboration with World Learning, The Basketball Embassy (TBE) is honored to have created and facilitated the first leg of this two-part exchange on American soil, with a second leg set to take place in Tunisia on November 6-13, 2019.
Basketball is booming all over the world, but perhaps nowhere more than the North African nation of Tunisia. Over the last decade, the country has seen the sport’s popularity soar, due in large part to a concerted investment in youth basketball development paired with the impressive achievements of Tunisia’s Senior National Team on the world’s biggest stage.
In the last 10 years alone, Tunisia has won two gold and two bronze medals at the FIBA Africa Championships after almost three decades of silence in the tournament. The team built on that momentum in the 2019 FIBA World Cup, where they tied Nigeria for most wins among African teams (three).
About the Program
To capitalize on this unprecedented new energy around the game in Tunisia, the first two-week leg of our program was designed to give participants a better grasp on marketing and operating their organizations and academies, while stressing the importance of teaching life skills to their respective players through the game of basketball.
Program Highlights:
Visited the Embassy of the Republic of Tunisia, and a meeting with Tunisian Ambassador to the U.S., Fayçal Gouia
Toured Special Olympics headquarters in Maryland. Director Melissa Anger offered insight into how her organization provides training and competition for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. A few of our Tunisian participants work regularly with special needs players, and picked up a variety of new ideas, drills, and exercises to bring back to their communities.
Toured Maryland’s largest YMCA, which serves more than 14,000 children, adults and families. Participants met with Melvin Reid, associate executive director at that location and former assistant basketball coach at Georgetown University. Reid shared personal stories of his time coaching one of the greatest point guards of all time, Allen Iverson, and the winning habits he possessed that led him to a Hall of Fame career in the NBA.
Toured Washington D.C. landmarks and attended a Washington Mystics WNBA game.
Attended workshops developed by TBE Director of Communication Zach Mason. The first workshop taught participants some best practices for telling engaging stories through their social media platforms, establishing consistency and authenticity in their personal brands. In the second, a talent evaluation workshop, Mason revealed the system he used to create Texas Top 100, the premier basketball recruiting website in the state of Texas. Participants watched high school game film and practiced some of Mason’s methods for evaluating specific players.
Attended a workshop at World Learning headquarters led by Monica Livingston, one of the most energetic and knowledgeable coaches in the industry. Livingston provided a number of strategies for empowering youth through sport and offered an abundance of teaching methods the group could try with their own players.
Q&A with Forbes contributor Ogden Payne, in a conversation that covered a wide range of entrepreneurial and business topics.
Q&A with Sarah Albus, the co-founder and executive director of Open Door Sports, one of the most promising youth sports nonprofits in America. Her organization provides quality sports programs, positive experiences, and leadership opportunities to underserved communities—specifically children with disabilities and kids struggling with a lack of financial resources. It was a highly beneficial session, as participants identified a significant number of parallels between the communities Open Doors Sports serves and their own communities in Tunisia.
Attended a meeting with Rochelle Coleman of PeacePlayers International, a major nonprofit aimed at uniting otherwise divided communities through sport.
Toured Georgetown University, spoke with coaches, and watched their women’s basketball practice.
Volunteered at the Capital Area Food Bank.
Attended Gheorghe Mureșan’s basketball clinic in Virginia. Participants were excited to learn from one of the NBA’s biggest legends (he’s 7’7”!) and implement many of the coaching methods and strategies they learned from earlier workshops. Mureșan and his staff allowed our participants to work directly with some of the kids at camp.
Looking Ahead
The second leg of our exchange will take place in Tunisia on November 6-13, 2019. TBE will bring nine highly-qualified American basketball coaches and administrators to the capital city of Tunis for a week of programming and collaboration with the original participants from the first trip.