KNOXVILLE, Tennessee: On June 3, ten female basketball players – ages 14 to 16 -and three coaches from Iraq came to America for the first time. For us, two American women who believe that sports can connect people of different cultures, their arrival fulfilled one of our long-term dreams to connect Iraqis with Americans.
In the summer of 2008, Sport 4 Peace – a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality and availability of sporting opportunities for girls and women around the world – held the first-ever sports training camp for young girls in Iraq. We trained 60 young girls from five different cities in the country with help from the head coach of the University of Tennessee s ladies basketball team, Pat Summitt, who sent training videos and equipment.
We asked the players what their biggest dream was and they responded: To visit America, to see a Women s National Basketball Association (WNBA) or a National Basketball Association (NBA) game, and to thank Coach Summitt for all the equipment and training videos she sent us.
We immediately knew what our next goal should be: to make their dreams come true.
When we arrived back in Knoxville, Tennessee, we asked Coach Summitt and her staff to invite the Iraqi girls team to attend her 2009 Summer Basketball Camp. Coach Holly Warlick, associate head coach at the University of Tennessee, took the lead and agreed to host the young team with funding from the US Department of State and Sports United, an international initiative under the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
The team spent one week in Washington, DC where the players conquered obstacles on a ropes course, attended a Washington Mystics vs. Atlanta Dream WNBA game, played soccer with physically and mentally challenged young children, cheered runners on at the Global Race for the Cure, and were introduced to bocce, a precision sport similar to bowling. In Knoxville, the team received a warm welcome from the hundreds of players and coaches attending the summer basketball camp.
Some of the most rewarding moments for us as Americans were when our coaches actively engaged with the Iraqi girls, learning Arabic and Kurdish phrases, learning to count and dance, and finding creative ways to communicate with each other during the games. The American coaches were grateful for the opportunity to work with the Iraqis.
One coach told us, We were honored to be with the Iraqi kids. They taught us so much about their culture. We couldn t believe how talented they were in basketball and we were challenged to overcome stereotypes about people from Iraq. These brilliant young women have hearts big enough to follow any of their dreams. We will never forget meeting them and we can t wait to visit them where they live and learn more about their lives, their families and their culture. These American coaches are now planning to visit Iraq next summer to participate in the 3rd Annual Training Camp.
The opportunity for these American and Iraqi players and coaches to meet one another, after years of their countries having been at war, was mutually beneficial. Coach Rizgar Raouf from northern Iraq said that he had known about Coach Summitt for some time and told her at the camp one day, Coach Pat, I have respected you since I learnt about you last summer. But I have to tell you that there is something that no one can learn about you from the internet: it is your kindness and your unique ability to bring people together for something greater than basketball.
Ten days after the team departed for home, Sport 4 Peace travelled back to Iraq to hold the second basketball training camp. It was important for us to return because only 13 of the 60 players and coaches were able to come to America due to limited funding and logistical restraints. We wanted to make sure that all of the players in Iraq felt cared for and that their families were involved.
One of the mothers of an Iraqi player told us, Before she travelled to America, we had conflicting ideas about your country. Every day she tells us stories of how kind the people in Washington and Tennessee were to her and how this experience changed her life. Hearing her stories, her father and I are also changed. We believe these programs are important for more than just making better basketball players; these programs are enhancing the relationship between our two countries.
The words of the American and Iraqi coaches and of this Iraqi parent embody what we believe is sports potential: to serve as a bridge and bring about meaningful dialogue between peoples of different cultures.
Sarah Hillyer and Ashleigh Huffmanare third year doctoral students in sport sociology at the University of Tennessee. Hillyer and Huffman founded Sport 4 Peace (www.sport4peace.org), a division of Global Sports Partners, as a way to reach across cultures through sports. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
