Sports to strengthen mutual ties; US opts for Basketball Sports Exchange with the South Africa
Tuesday, March 6th, 2012 11:11:56 by Fayyaz Yaseen
Sports to strengthen mutual ties; US opts for Basketball Sports Exchange with the South Africa
Washington: (Tuesday, March 06, 2012) in a bid to strengthen its cultural ties with South Africa, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State today announced a basketball Sport Visitor Exchange
that is envisioned to bring 12 South African coaches to America during March 8 to 19.
As per the press brief released by the US department of State, “During the exchange, the coaches will meet with U.S. sports professionals, work with young American athletes at local schools, participate in a National Basketball
Association (NBA) clinic, and conduct teambuilding and injury prevention activities in the Washington, D.C. area. The group will conclude their program in Nashville, Tennessee where they will watch regional basketball games and participate in Special Olympics
sessions.”
Starting about six years back, this present event will mark the fourth Sports Visitor Exchange between the two countries. In the bid to promote a softer face of the two countries in each other’s territories, a similar attempt was
made back in 2006 when South African soccer players attended the Youth World Cup; in 2008, a delegation of South African baseball coaches came to the U.S. for training and clinics; and, in May 2011, South African female soccer players attended the Women’s
World Cup.
According to the press brief, “Sports diplomacy builds on Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s vision of “smart power,” embracing the use of a full range of diplomatic tools—in this case, basketball—to bring individuals
together in order to foster a greater understanding of societal norms and cultures.”
Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=14850
Posted by Fayyaz Yaseen
on Mar 6 2012. Filed under Sports, USA, World.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
