[Music]
I’m here to say that I have experienced
the power of sport as a conduit to
self-realization and positive social
change but really nothing in my
upbringing was show me a script that
would say that I would be standing here
today speaking about a journey that I’ve
started very very long time ago I grew
up in Senegal in trust thank you and by
the way each other’s brothers and
sisters from Nigeria and Ghana we’re
jealous
[Applause]
so I I had a variety of interests in
many subject matters I was always
fascinated with what we learned in
school from some of the savings you know
these people who displayed encyclopedic
knowledge people like the caft Newton
who physicists mathematicians –
religions and people of the arts and I
wondered whether we had people like that
in our cultures across the continent but
that’s a conversation that from another
time because I’m convinced that we do
then I started high school first year in
high school I was in a truck in for the
humanities or liberal arts but before
the end of the year I wanted to make
sure that I scored well enough in my
science subject because I wanted to
switch to take on a course towards the
life sciences because I came across an
organization called medicines on
frontier Doctors Without Borders I was
inspired by the work they did and I
decided that I want to you know now put
myself on a course to study medicine and
become a doctor and joined Doctors
Without Borders later in sports
we all you know growing up on the
continent we learn first to kick a ball
because that’s accessible you get out we
could click empty milk can you know make
up a bunch of torn up clothes and get
outside in two breaks you get your goal
and that’s how we all started then in
high school my first revelation of you
know May
there was something there athletically I
ran a 400 meter race in intramurals
nothing really in front of a crowd of
people but my gym teacher afterwards was
pleading with me to take one track
because he saw that I had you know
world-class talent but he said my
brother
Mamadou his name is mama mama doing
always was my role model this is one of
the smartest human beings I know so he
very early on introduced me to two
readings and literally maybe most of the
time forced me at age 12 to read people
like funnel Chinua Achebe Mssr and all
those literally giants from the negative
movement so there was never any
confusion from me about what Africa was
and meant and where we came from there
was never a question of identity so
Mamadou pursuing a postgraduate degree
in France would send me these awful
letters that he was getting from French
basketball teams people who see him on
the street working around literally
offering him contract to come and play
basketball because he was bigger than me
taller than me I never played the game
but then he will you know tell them
about his younger brother back home and
one day on his trips back home from in
the summer he brought me a basketball so
I just started on my own to play with it
and then in the summer when I go back to
my hometown cowlick is the high school
had a beautiful basketball court but
it’s always closed so I wanted to go
just practice and you know learn the
ropes I would literally climb the wall
in order to access the court but then as
you are there trying to practice free
throws you wish you had eyes in the back
of your neck because the groundskeeper
you never know when he’s gonna come with
his big stick to chase you away and I
never understood why would you build an
infrastructure a playground but not
allow kids to play on it so fast forward
I literally stumbled into the game of
basketball yes
this brother bringing me this ball but
then I met a Peace Corps volunteer who
was traveling doing basketball clinics
and so we play and this guy is telling
me I had I could go to the US get a
scholarship and get my education paid
for I really thought he was pulling my
legs because at the time my only
exposure to basketball in the US was
what I saw on video a delay of the great
rivalries between the Boston Celtics and
Los Angeles Lakers Larry Bird Magic
Johnson or the twin towers at the
Houston rocket rouse Samson Hakeem
Olajuwon people like Moses Malone I’m
like there’s no way I can go and you
know share of court with these guys I’m
not good
this guy’s I don’t know what he’s
talking about but he went back to DC and
a week later literally this coach George
left would send me a full scholarship of
a letter only because he was told I was
six foot eight so my thought was if
these guys are foolish enough to you
know make this offer a better sign
before they change their mind because
maybe they were going well at the time
there was no Google so I was safe they
couldn’t really get no any any footage
or anything so anyway I showed up in DC
and first my biggest culture shock was
not enough really because I didn’t speak
a word of English but my coach pick me
up from national airport in DC and
dropped me off in an apartment and say
see you in the morning in school at 8
o’clock I’m sitting there thinking this
is rough because where I’m from when a
guest come in
I remember our home and Carla would
always have a ball you know just in case
some you know visitors showed up so
you’re gonna feed them but there was a
the awakening and I needed that because
that means hey you know you gotta come
with your hard hat here there’s no
handouts you’re gonna earn your keep so
the next morning I was in class in a
calculus class by the way with no
English but
literally so you know you go through
your transitions because you gotta
really step up now it’s just you and
this is what you came here for so and
then not also forgetting that the squash
haven’t seen me play so I’m you know
subconsciously because you don’t want to
deceive people I come all the way here
this guy signed me I gotta make sure
that I’m worth whatever they you know
they thought I want to let Kevin down so
we start school and students literally
on the campus walk up to me and and then
the next time would be I ready for
Dikembe because that year my freshman
year we were supposed to play these guys
but I had no idea who they were but when
we step on the court to play them I
understood why they were asking all
those questions because probably if I
had read the clippings and knew who
these guys were
I probably would have declared an injury
or something because I was a starting
center on my team but and it’s tough in
there these guys are they have
I want to tell you the score but that
game really was a turning point because
I met a great mentor coach John Thompson
who will the head coach at Georgetown
University he’s you know transformed the
lives of hundreds of young people from
the most disadvantaged neighborhoods
from all across America he was impressed
what he said by these young Africans who
just got here but older they were
getting beat pretty bad but he thought I
was intimidated and I was still
competing regardless of whatever the
score said so there was something that
he valued that no matter what the
challenge obstacle you give it your best
shot you know you stay confident you
push and that’s what we did although the
results on the score didn’t go away
I want a friend and a mentor and that’s
really where a lot of these things
started for me in recognizing the value
and the power of sport as a country so
fast forward I am having my going
through my journey and in basketball at
school I’m studying biology you know I
will finish my degree I will have the
option I could play anywhere else in the
world because I did recognize that I
probably didn’t have the talent to play
in the NBA but play somewhere else but
definitely joining medicine from
frontier was always something that I
knew was there so my senior year early
in the year you broke my wrist you know
so it was literally the end of it
obviously for any athlete any injury
presenter
major setback but yes I felt it and but
had to really repair ties very quickly
garage in a lab as a research assistant
taking classes you know microbiology
Department to figure out how I’m going
to pay for medical school at the end of
the year but then in the meantime you
know my journey didn’t stop there with
sports because I had tried to replicate
the experience I had for other young
people from across Africa and I was
seeing the same impact that they were
having in those the university community
where they were wealthy such stores in
Connecticut
Lexington Kentucky Chapel Hill New
Hampshire and many many places these
young people come from Senegal they were
being the center of attention in those
communities before clear us about where
they were from when they play on
national TV the the name of their town
was introduced in Senegal so I saw that
they were accomplishing something that
probably the traditional diplomatic
channels were not able to accomplish and
also from the networks that they were
developing I always thought that there
has to be a way to take something from
the achievement that these individuals
are having to kind of bring it together
for the collective so very rapidly I
decided to think that and sports were
still pulling me you know so I wanted to
find a way to get back into sport by
really using the power of sport as a
tool and then I realized as I was doing
research trying to figure out how
to medical school today actually it was
not necessary of the practice of
medicine that I was interested in but it
was more what was met dr. Zee’s our
borders were doing using medicine to
impact communities and I thought that I
could do that quicker and probably more
effectively by leaving my passion doing
something that I love which is
empowering young people through
basketball that’s what led me to start
seed sports for education and economic
development it was a way to make sure
that you know we figure out a way to
contribute in the efforts to a
socio-economic development of our
continent we all had an interest in
making sure we this is way before the
Africa rising narrative that we were
interested in making sure that we are
respected because we come from a
respectful place we’ve achieved you know
big things that we are not often the
first one to tell our own stories so we
started seed you know as a vehicle to
really figure out how do we contribute
to a socio-economic development of our
continent using basketball and sport
attitude the focus was our biggest asset
is our human capital among the human
capital our use population the biggest
dividend so if we don’t equip them with
tools get them educated then we are you
know going to continue in a dire
situation what the game has done for me
and what I’ve seen it do for others that
we’ve you know helped follow in those
footsteps was basically creating a
ripple effect that I saw that at a
larger scale could be a solution to some
of the situation that we are seeing
today
you know I truly believe when young
people are exposed to sports early age
teams for and the values of our game
which teaches them
respect self-confidence and self
reliance teamwork they are not going to
engage in certain self-destructive
behaviors we started seed then I was
fortunate enough to get a empty position
as a volunteer sprout at the Dallas
Mavericks one of our teams in the NBA
and that’s really where it all you know
grew because we had a platform now to be
able to interact with more young people
around the game we loved and also around
the values of our game 2003 along with
other colleagues today in the NBA family
we started basketballs our borders in
South Africa we’re bringing young people
from across the continent for a week of
life skills
I mean and teaching them the
fundamentals of the game 2010 the NBA
came approached me about opening the
office in Johannesburg and I literally
jump on the opportunity I moved there
actually in my suitcases because for me
more than the game I was excited about
the opportunity to really impact young
people recreate the ripple effect and in
the process growing the popularity of
the sport my number one priority was
just to first make it accessible
remember I talked about being chased
away from this court that you know was
built but nobody put access we wanted to
focus on making sure we have courts that
young people who have a passion for the
sport will access it today what I’m
excited about is not to just talk about
basketball you know as a sport you know
but really what I see do what we do with
it every day across the continent
through programs we run what is in derry
salaam Kampala
you know to the previous speaker here
Abuja you know we said what I see is a
African youth that is extremely
motivated and smart and excited about
all the possibilities right here on the
continent what we want to do is create
the ecosystem right here on the
continent we started seed in 1998 see it
is going to be 20 years all this coming
year but we started the school in 2002
because we thought that rather than one
or two young people we send to the US on
scholarship every year
let’s bring the system right here in
Senegal for now and the idea is expanded
across the continent it’s about using
sport as a vehicle helping young people
use the gift and we all have a gift the
most important thing now is to discover
that gift and once you discover that if
what do you do with it you know we equip
these young people with talent and
skills but we want to make sure they
take it upon themselves to take the seat
at the table and not wait to be invited
they have an opportunity you know
through sports and other gifts that they
have to contribute in the future of our
continent thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
I’m here to say that I have experienced
the power of sport as a conduit to
self-realization and positive social
change but really nothing in my
upbringing was show me a script that
would say that I would be standing here
today speaking about a journey that I’ve
started very very long time ago I grew
up in Senegal in trust thank you and by
the way each other’s brothers and
sisters from Nigeria and Ghana we’re
jealous
[Applause]
so I I had a variety of interests in
many subject matters I was always
fascinated with what we learned in
school from some of the savings you know
these people who displayed encyclopedic
knowledge people like the caft Newton
who physicists mathematicians –
religions and people of the arts and I
wondered whether we had people like that
in our cultures across the continent but
that’s a conversation that from another
time because I’m convinced that we do
then I started high school first year in
high school I was in a truck in for the
humanities or liberal arts but before
the end of the year I wanted to make
sure that I scored well enough in my
science subject because I wanted to
switch to take on a course towards the
life sciences because I came across an
organization called medicines on
frontier Doctors Without Borders I was
inspired by the work they did and I
decided that I want to you know now put
myself on a course to study medicine and
become a doctor and joined Doctors
Without Borders later in sports
we all you know growing up on the
continent we learn first to kick a ball
because that’s accessible you get out we
could click empty milk can you know make
up a bunch of torn up clothes and get
outside in two breaks you get your goal
and that’s how we all started then in
high school my first revelation of you
know May
there was something there athletically I
ran a 400 meter race in intramurals
nothing really in front of a crowd of
people but my gym teacher afterwards was
pleading with me to take one track
because he saw that I had you know
world-class talent but he said my
brother
Mamadou his name is mama mama doing
always was my role model this is one of
the smartest human beings I know so he
very early on introduced me to two
readings and literally maybe most of the
time forced me at age 12 to read people
like funnel Chinua Achebe Mssr and all
those literally giants from the negative
movement so there was never any
confusion from me about what Africa was
and meant and where we came from there
was never a question of identity so
Mamadou pursuing a postgraduate degree
in France would send me these awful
letters that he was getting from French
basketball teams people who see him on
the street working around literally
offering him contract to come and play
basketball because he was bigger than me
taller than me I never played the game
but then he will you know tell them
about his younger brother back home and
one day on his trips back home from in
the summer he brought me a basketball so
I just started on my own to play with it
and then in the summer when I go back to
my hometown cowlick is the high school
had a beautiful basketball court but
it’s always closed so I wanted to go
just practice and you know learn the
ropes I would literally climb the wall
in order to access the court but then as
you are there trying to practice free
throws you wish you had eyes in the back
of your neck because the groundskeeper
you never know when he’s gonna come with
his big stick to chase you away and I
never understood why would you build an
infrastructure a playground but not
allow kids to play on it so fast forward
I literally stumbled into the game of
basketball yes
this brother bringing me this ball but
then I met a Peace Corps volunteer who
was traveling doing basketball clinics
and so we play and this guy is telling
me I had I could go to the US get a
scholarship and get my education paid
for I really thought he was pulling my
legs because at the time my only
exposure to basketball in the US was
what I saw on video a delay of the great
rivalries between the Boston Celtics and
Los Angeles Lakers Larry Bird Magic
Johnson or the twin towers at the
Houston rocket rouse Samson Hakeem
Olajuwon people like Moses Malone I’m
like there’s no way I can go and you
know share of court with these guys I’m
not good
this guy’s I don’t know what he’s
talking about but he went back to DC and
a week later literally this coach George
left would send me a full scholarship of
a letter only because he was told I was
six foot eight so my thought was if
these guys are foolish enough to you
know make this offer a better sign
before they change their mind because
maybe they were going well at the time
there was no Google so I was safe they
couldn’t really get no any any footage
or anything so anyway I showed up in DC
and first my biggest culture shock was
not enough really because I didn’t speak
a word of English but my coach pick me
up from national airport in DC and
dropped me off in an apartment and say
see you in the morning in school at 8
o’clock I’m sitting there thinking this
is rough because where I’m from when a
guest come in
I remember our home and Carla would
always have a ball you know just in case
some you know visitors showed up so
you’re gonna feed them but there was a
the awakening and I needed that because
that means hey you know you gotta come
with your hard hat here there’s no
handouts you’re gonna earn your keep so
the next morning I was in class in a
calculus class by the way with no
English but
literally so you know you go through
your transitions because you gotta
really step up now it’s just you and
this is what you came here for so and
then not also forgetting that the squash
haven’t seen me play so I’m you know
subconsciously because you don’t want to
deceive people I come all the way here
this guy signed me I gotta make sure
that I’m worth whatever they you know
they thought I want to let Kevin down so
we start school and students literally
on the campus walk up to me and and then
the next time would be I ready for
Dikembe because that year my freshman
year we were supposed to play these guys
but I had no idea who they were but when
we step on the court to play them I
understood why they were asking all
those questions because probably if I
had read the clippings and knew who
these guys were
I probably would have declared an injury
or something because I was a starting
center on my team but and it’s tough in
there these guys are they have
I want to tell you the score but that
game really was a turning point because
I met a great mentor coach John Thompson
who will the head coach at Georgetown
University he’s you know transformed the
lives of hundreds of young people from
the most disadvantaged neighborhoods
from all across America he was impressed
what he said by these young Africans who
just got here but older they were
getting beat pretty bad but he thought I
was intimidated and I was still
competing regardless of whatever the
score said so there was something that
he valued that no matter what the
challenge obstacle you give it your best
shot you know you stay confident you
push and that’s what we did although the
results on the score didn’t go away
I want a friend and a mentor and that’s
really where a lot of these things
started for me in recognizing the value
and the power of sport as a country so
fast forward I am having my going
through my journey and in basketball at
school I’m studying biology you know I
will finish my degree I will have the
option I could play anywhere else in the
world because I did recognize that I
probably didn’t have the talent to play
in the NBA but play somewhere else but
definitely joining medicine from
frontier was always something that I
knew was there so my senior year early
in the year you broke my wrist you know
so it was literally the end of it
obviously for any athlete any injury
presenter
major setback but yes I felt it and but
had to really repair ties very quickly
garage in a lab as a research assistant
taking classes you know microbiology
Department to figure out how I’m going
to pay for medical school at the end of
the year but then in the meantime you
know my journey didn’t stop there with
sports because I had tried to replicate
the experience I had for other young
people from across Africa and I was
seeing the same impact that they were
having in those the university community
where they were wealthy such stores in
Connecticut
Lexington Kentucky Chapel Hill New
Hampshire and many many places these
young people come from Senegal they were
being the center of attention in those
communities before clear us about where
they were from when they play on
national TV the the name of their town
was introduced in Senegal so I saw that
they were accomplishing something that
probably the traditional diplomatic
channels were not able to accomplish and
also from the networks that they were
developing I always thought that there
has to be a way to take something from
the achievement that these individuals
are having to kind of bring it together
for the collective so very rapidly I
decided to think that and sports were
still pulling me you know so I wanted to
find a way to get back into sport by
really using the power of sport as a
tool and then I realized as I was doing
research trying to figure out how
to medical school today actually it was
not necessary of the practice of
medicine that I was interested in but it
was more what was met dr. Zee’s our
borders were doing using medicine to
impact communities and I thought that I
could do that quicker and probably more
effectively by leaving my passion doing
something that I love which is
empowering young people through
basketball that’s what led me to start
seed sports for education and economic
development it was a way to make sure
that you know we figure out a way to
contribute in the efforts to a
socio-economic development of our
continent we all had an interest in
making sure we this is way before the
Africa rising narrative that we were
interested in making sure that we are
respected because we come from a
respectful place we’ve achieved you know
big things that we are not often the
first one to tell our own stories so we
started seed you know as a vehicle to
really figure out how do we contribute
to a socio-economic development of our
continent using basketball and sport
attitude the focus was our biggest asset
is our human capital among the human
capital our use population the biggest
dividend so if we don’t equip them with
tools get them educated then we are you
know going to continue in a dire
situation what the game has done for me
and what I’ve seen it do for others that
we’ve you know helped follow in those
footsteps was basically creating a
ripple effect that I saw that at a
larger scale could be a solution to some
of the situation that we are seeing
today
you know I truly believe when young
people are exposed to sports early age
teams for and the values of our game
which teaches them
respect self-confidence and self
reliance teamwork they are not going to
engage in certain self-destructive
behaviors we started seed then I was
fortunate enough to get a empty position
as a volunteer sprout at the Dallas
Mavericks one of our teams in the NBA
and that’s really where it all you know
grew because we had a platform now to be
able to interact with more young people
around the game we loved and also around
the values of our game 2003 along with
other colleagues today in the NBA family
we started basketballs our borders in
South Africa we’re bringing young people
from across the continent for a week of
life skills
I mean and teaching them the
fundamentals of the game 2010 the NBA
came approached me about opening the
office in Johannesburg and I literally
jump on the opportunity I moved there
actually in my suitcases because for me
more than the game I was excited about
the opportunity to really impact young
people recreate the ripple effect and in
the process growing the popularity of
the sport my number one priority was
just to first make it accessible
remember I talked about being chased
away from this court that you know was
built but nobody put access we wanted to
focus on making sure we have courts that
young people who have a passion for the
sport will access it today what I’m
excited about is not to just talk about
basketball you know as a sport you know
but really what I see do what we do with
it every day across the continent
through programs we run what is in derry
salaam Kampala
you know to the previous speaker here
Abuja you know we said what I see is a
African youth that is extremely
motivated and smart and excited about
all the possibilities right here on the
continent what we want to do is create
the ecosystem right here on the
continent we started seed in 1998 see it
is going to be 20 years all this coming
year but we started the school in 2002
because we thought that rather than one
or two young people we send to the US on
scholarship every year
let’s bring the system right here in
Senegal for now and the idea is expanded
across the continent it’s about using
sport as a vehicle helping young people
use the gift and we all have a gift the
most important thing now is to discover
that gift and once you discover that if
what do you do with it you know we equip
these young people with talent and
skills but we want to make sure they
take it upon themselves to take the seat
at the table and not wait to be invited
they have an opportunity you know
through sports and other gifts that they
have to contribute in the future of our
continent thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
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