Basketball Used to Promote Ethnic Relations Abroad
August 20, 2009
When former men’s basketball player Sead Dizdarevic (C’07, G’13) saw the impact he and fellow Hoyas made on young athletes last summer at a sports camp in Montenegro, he knew he had to return to his home country to host another basketball program.
In early August, his Basketball Diplomacy program traveled to Kolasin, Montenegro, with a mission to coach, this time, high school students from Slovenia, Serbia, Kosovo, Albania and Montenegro -- countries that have seen their share of ethnic conflicts.
With help from the U.S State Department and embassies within the five participating countries, Dizdarevic organized a four-day camp designed to train 40 boys and girls in basketball and physical fitness and education. But the coaching also went beyond sports. An underlying theme promoted regional and interethnic cooperation and respect for diversity through sports.
