Senegal exchange tips off

The University of Delaware will cooperate with the National Basketball Association (NBA) on an educational sports exchange program with the West African nation of Senegal.

The exchange, which will occur in the fall of 2006, will be supported by a $326,000 grant  from the U.S. Department of State to the University's Department of Health, Nutrition and Exercise Sciences. Through the NBA's international basketball instruction and community relations outreach program, Basketball Without Borders Africa, UD will work with the nonprofit organization Sports for Education and Economic Development in Senegal (SEEDS) and the Senegalese Basketball Federation. "This is a great opportunity to work with the NBA and SEEDS to develop positive relationships with the basketball community in Senegal, but, more importantly, it is a chance to promote the positive benefits associated with participating in sport to the youth of Senegal," Matthew J. Robinson, associate professor of sport management and program director of UD's International Basketball Initiative, says.

The funds brought six coaches from Senegal to the United States this fall to participate in a three-week program. In addition, two Senegalese graduate students will arrive in fall 2006 to begin work toward master's degrees in sport management and will serve as graduate assistants with the UD men's and women's basketball teams and within the sport management major.

In September 2006, the UD men's and women's basketball staffs, along with current and former NBA players and team personnel, will travel to Senegal as part of Basketball Without Borders Africa, where they will take part in coaching clinics and in the NBA's global campaign to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS education and prevention.

Finally, over the course of the program, Robinson will work with the Senegalese Basketball Federation to develop youth basketball leagues and to secure grants and corporate sponsorship to expand the sport in that country.

Robinson and David Barlow, associate professor of health, nutrition and exercise sciences, have implemented a similar program with Turkey, which began in 2003.