Basketball, the UN and the NBA

I’ll never be a superstar(maybe in the senior league?) but I do enjoy playing! Here I’m much closer to that than others. The UN compound has daily pick-up games and I’ve enjoyed the trips to go play. It has been interesting though. The Bangladeshi battalion who are located right beside the courts seem to enjoy playing. The combination between them, the Philipinos, and a few Liberians don’t lead to a lot of folks who are used to playing center or power forward. I’m usually the tallest on the court by 6”. I enjoyed watching one of the girls who is American play. They just know the game so much better than guys and know where to move and how to play as a team. She is great at passing, and moving to the open space. The guys seem to just try to be faster and try to force everything. The first week I ended up on a team with 3 Philippinos and there is more to the story under the entry on Halloween. Since then, I’ve made it to a few more games and had a good time every week. There is a neat project in development with support from Nike, Adidas, and the NBA to source funds and link basketball with physical fitness in the schools. The hope is to have a court established in every county. Luol Deng (former Duke and current Bulls player) is one of those involved among others. There is a lot of potential here. As in many war-torn places there are some organized sports, but not many.