Hoops Care is Making a Difference Through Basketball
There are good reasons why we don‘t hear a lot about Basketball in Africa. First off, in many African countries, people have to deal with very serious issues such as poverty and HIV. And you can make the case that showing kids how to throw a ball into a hoop is not really something that has to be tackled with the same kind of urgency.
Secondly, accessibility to media we use everyday, i.e. the internet, is much more scarce (Insert „hot spot“-joke here). That‘s probably a big reason why a lot of things going on in Africa are not „visible“ to the rest of the world.
But we have started courtsoftheworld.com four weeks ago to show what‘s happening on courts all over the globe. So Africa has got to be represented, regardless.
And on the other hand, Africa is also kind of a perfect place for basketball, especially streetball (for the sake of making a point, we will treat it as „one“ place, knowing very well that this is simplistic and ignorant). Or maybe streetball is a perfect sport for Africa: You don‘t need a lot to play streetball. Not all the sleeves, head-, wrist-, armbands, knee-straps and protective gear, kids in western countries wrap around themselves.
But you do need a court, or at least a basket of some kind.
By chance, we stumbled upon a non-profit organisation called Hoops Care International in Cape Coast, Ghana. Hoops Care realized that most children and teenagers in Africa do not have access to basketball necessities. That´s why the organization is actively refurbishing courts and building new ones. Hopefully, someday you will find plenty of courts in Ghana, Mali, Nigeria or Liberia on courtsoftheworld.com thanks to the efforts of such organizations like Hoops Care.
Besides building courts, supplying balls, nets and other accessories, Hoops Care also organizes basketball clinics in order to make a difference in the lives of many children. Talented youth have the chance to get a spot in the basketball academy, where they will practice daily with professional coaches. Hoops Care offers those kids scholarships, so they can also get a proper education. Knowing the importance of education for the development of Ghana, Hoops Care is further helping players that ran through the programme get college scholarships in the United States.
So, even though basketball will never solve poverty, it can be a way to teach kids values and give them opportunities to get a better education, improving their country‘s situation in the long run.
This is how Claudius Thompson, CEO of Hoops Care International, describes Hoops Care´s activities:
“HCI is really bringing life to the lifeless and hope to the hopeless. Our activities are not only making aware of health issues affecting the communities but are also discovering talented athletes in the field of basketball while making the population in Ghana discover basketball as a tough sport of mental and physical strength”