Aug. 19, 2009

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WASHINGTON - Fulfilling a life-long dream last summer was not enough for former Georgetown men's basketball player Sead Dizdarevic. After leading a group of former players to his home country of Montenegro to host a basketball camp, Dizdarevic saw the effect it had on the youth and built upon that for a successful second year of what is now called "Basketball Diplomacy".

In early August, Basketball Diplomacy returned to Kolasin, Montenegro with a mission to unite students from Slovenia, Serbia, Kosovo, Albania and Montenegro through the game of basketball. Once again, the United States Embassy played an important role in organizing the event along with The State Department which sponsored it and provided much of the funding. Ambassador to Montenegro Roderick W. Moore even handed out the certificates of achievement to the campers on the final day.

"I was happy to go back and have kids from five different countries in attendance," said Dizdarevic. "It was a pleasure seeing athletes from different backgrounds, who would not have otherwise met, work together."

Joining him were former Hoyas RaMell Ross, Amadou Killkenny-Diaw and Rhea Beal along with Georgetown Director of Men's Basketball Operations Matt Henry, Women's Basketball Assistant Coach Ashley Davis and Assistant Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Leadership and Performance Augie Maurelli.

The four-day event trained more than 40 boys and girls on basketball, physical fitness and education, but the underlying theme promoted regional and inter-ethnic cooperation as well as tolerance through sports.

Henry cited three objectives for the camp, "To become better basketball players, to make new friends and to talk about our future education and community."

Dizdarevic, the program coordinator at Georgetown's Center for Intercultural Education and Development, credited the U.S. Department of State and Georgetown Athletics along with the embassies of all countries involved for seeing the importance of the program and working to get it up and running for the second-consecutive year.

"Being native to Montenegro, it was great to have the support of the U.S. State Department and the participating embassies," said Dizdarevic. "Being able to give back to my country is something I'm really proud of."

Each camper received two Georgetown Basketball t-shirts and the boys and girls were separated into two camps with individual instruction from the coaches.

"They were really good listeners and very coachable. They took what we taught them and tried it out in the five on five games," Davis remarked about the girls. "You could tell they were focusing on trying to get better."

Maurelli added an athletic development station to the camp this year. He worked on strength, speed and agility with the athletes.

"It was very impressive to see how quickly the athletes picked up elements of training they had never seen before," said Maurelli.

Beyond basketball, the coaches spoke to the campers through translators about education and what it takes to play college basketball in the United States.

Many of the players had their club coaches in attendance and the GU coaching staff set aside time to sit down in order to talk strategy and answer questions. The coaches played an important role in translating for the campers, most of whom did not speak English.

The Hoya players and coaches did not have much of an opportunity to experience the country, but culture was taught in the confines of the gym.

"It was a great experience, the food was great and we enjoyed being there," said Davis. "In a few days, the kids taught us about their culture while we improved their basketball skills. There were some really good players and I'm definitely going back next year."

In a video produced by the U.S. State Department, Henry summed up the camp in one statement, "We are by no means solving any ethnic conflicts, but it's really fun to watch a kid from Serbia slap five with a kid from Kosovo after they make a good play."