The Tribune

THE University of The Bahamas and the United States Embassy teamed up Saturday to host a basketball clinic for area high school players at the university’s courts.

The UB Mingoes men’s basketball team and coaches led the clinic that was coordinated through The American Corner at UB. The coaches and UB players ran drills with the nearly 50 local high school basketball players attending the clinic.

Director of Athletics at The University of The Bahamas Kimberley Rolle said the outreach effort for the community is a natural fit not only for UB but UB Athletics as well.

“The university is based in Oakes Field, and we are in the community and looking to give back. In whatever we do we seek to serve our community, and so we thought it was important to engage the community in such a clinic,” she said.

“When we were approached to engage with such a partnership with the United States Embassy, we were more than open and willing to it. Community work is a part of what we push here at UB Athletics, because we believe that our student-athletes are fortunate and blessed, and so to whom much is given much is expected.”

Rolle added that she hopes the partnership continues to grow to frequently make that impact in the community.

“We certainly are happy to engage in this collaboration with the US Embassy and other partners,” she said. “We certainly look to build upon this as we grow and to engage other stakeholders.”

US Embassy Consular Chief and Acting Deputy Chief of Mission Lance Posey, himself a former high school basketball coach in the United States, said he thought the collaboration was a great outreach opportunity for the embassy.

“Education is incredibly important for all of us,” he said. “With so many students travelling from The Bahamas to the United States to go to school, we want everyone to understand what the United States has to offer.”

He pointed out that the outreach with the high school student-athletes in The Bahamas gives the embassy an opportunity to give them a taste of athletics in the USA. “We want to make sure that students from The Bahamas understand the different opportunities available when they go to study in the United States,” he said. “We are really happy to have Bahamian students in the United States.”

The clinic was coordinated through the American Corner at The University of The Bahamas. The American Corner is a partnership between the US Embassy and UB and is part of the US State Department’s global American Spaces programme.

American Spaces aim to provide people around the world with accurate, compelling, timely and audience-appropriate information about the United States and its history, culture, society and values.