By Dr. Vandy Pacetti-Donelson |
Are you a female basketball coach? Would you like an opportunity to extend your reach and impact on women’s basketball?
The United Nations of Basketball in partnership with the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame is the organizer of an international mentorship program called Basketball Sisters. Basketball Sisters is a mentorship program for female basketball coaches that begins as a modern day “pen-pal” system.
Female coaches from the countries of Member Nations of the United Nations of Basketball are paired with female high school, college and professional coaches from the US who will serve as a mentor, resource, and friend. The coaches will be paired up initially via email to share information on basketball, coaching, their countries, and life in general. The length and level of the friendship and mentoring is completely up to each pair and may extend to other types of communication as the partnership grows.
Sport is an effective tool in combating social problems. Sport for development finds its way increasingly into national and international policy documents and declarations where consistently, and increasingly, positive meanings to sport are recognized. New insights into the concept of international sports development recognize a paradigm shift in thinking which emphasizes the creation and development of social networks for positive economic and cultural change.
Sport for development must begin somewhere, and maybe for you that means developing a social connection with another basketball coach in another country. For more information about the Basketball Sisters program, visit www.unbasketball.org/basketball-sisters or email info@unbasketball.org.
Dr. Vandy Pacetti-Donelson is an Assistant Professor and Director of the Library and Instructional Design at the United States Sports Academy in Daphne, Ala.