LTA Hosts Teens from Nepal

LTA Hosts Teens from Nepal from Leadership Through Athletics on Vimeo.

By Catherine Krikstan

This month, Leadership Through Athletics welcomed a group of basketball players from Nepal to participate in a clinic run by Maryland Sure Shots Coach Joe Armstead.

The clinic provided both the visiting team and players from the Sure Shots with an opportunity for social development and cultural exchange.

"I'm all about the fundamentals of the game of basketball," said Armstead. "If you teach [kids] to play the game the right way, it transfers to life. Because I don't believe you can be a good basketball player and not be a good student, and not be a good citizen."

Hosting clinics such as this one is an important aspect of the LTA mission, said Kevin Hoover, the organization's executive director.

"A key component of youth leadership development is the ability to have a diversity of experience with people from different cultures," Hoover said.

Kelli Davis works for the Department of State's Office of Sports Initiatives, which put this program together in order to give visiting athletes and coaches a grassroots experience of sports in the United States.

"I show them that it's not the amount of money that you have that makes the superstar," Davis said. "That anyone with meager means can build their way up with hard work and practice and education."

Indeed, the teens from Nepal were selected not just for their playing ability, but for their commitment to their education, said Neha Choudhary, a coach traveling with the team.

Davis hopes the lessons that the visiting players learn here will be shared with their teammates at home.

"We tell our [visiting] kids, you are ambassadors to your country. So the things that you learn here, you have to take back, and show your coaches, and show the youth of your nation, and tell them about all the wonderful things that you've learned," Davis said.

But events like this one can benefit not just our visitors, but everyone involved, said Evan Schmitt, who works with Davis.

"As beneficial as it is for the children from Nepal to be here and to see our culture, I would say it's just as beneficial for the Sure Shots, being able to meet [the Nepalese players] and experience them and talk with them about their culture as well," Schmitt said.

"While they're here, we try to make it a two-way exchange," said Schmitt.

The Graziano family has witnessed this exchange firsthand.

John, 19, Paul, 17, Kate, 14, and Sarah, 13, are siblings who play for the Sure Shots.

At these clinics, said Paul, cultural differences are obvious. But basketball quickly becomes a universal language.

"It's kind of cool how the sport can bring you together," Paul said.