National TIBU School Tour 2015

TIBU does it again. Every time Kabir and I work with them, we come away with a great experience, closer relationships and for me, less of a voice. Last year we led a coaches training of trainers at their TIBU Basketball Academy, I coached at their annual summer basketball camp, we spent the weekend with them when TIBU teams played in Essaouira and we visit the coaches and players when we are ever near Casablanca. But the National TIBU School Tour was an experience like no other. Kabir put it simply, “No one else had a better two weeks than us.”

In front of the Algerian border with Hannah, the Peace Corps Volunteer who is luck to live in Figuig!

Flashback to Fez

Founded in the 9th century and home to the oldest university in the world, Fez reached its height in the 13th–14th centuries under the Marinids, when it replaced Marrakesh as the capital of the kingdom. The urban fabric and the principal monuments in the medina – madrasas, fondouks, palaces, residences, mosques and fountains – date from this period. Although the political capital of Morocco was transferred to Rabat in 1912, Fez has retained its status as the country’s cultural and spiritual centre. –UNESCO

**The following post was written over a month ago:

Today has been just one of those days. A day of bottomless inspiration and titanic gratitude, days when luck can seemingly be spooned like frosting with your outstretched fingertips. We had just had a week packed full of new experiences (more on Eid Kabir and our southern tour of Morocco here) but it was topped, all topped, by the past twenty-four hours.

In the morning we climbed, again, atop the desert giant and returned to the sandy sea’s crusty edge. Once in the closest town we left the tour and took a grand taxi six hours north, through mountains, forests, and apple orchards to Fez–the countries oldest Medina and UNESCO World Heritage Site. We arrived sandy, possibly smelly, from a night in the desert and long taxi ride but the family we planned to stay with ushered us in warmly with the usual Moroccan hospitality.

The family was that of Hajar and Zackoria, two basketball players from the TIBU Basketball camp Liv worked in August. Liv had connected with Hajar instantly–as sixteen year old girl who played with the boys most of the time and has the maturity and work ethic of someone twice her age. Once taken in it was obvious, however, that Hajar was not a one-off but rather a product of a very special, kind, and loving family. It was this family that transformed our few days in Fes into a priceless experience.

Hajar and me in front of the original first entrance of the medina (left) and the later French designed entrance (right).

Basketball Update

The school year is starting back up and so is the basketball season. Before looking ahead, I am looking back on two successful basketball camps. Our basketball experience so far has allowed us to combine our basketball knowledge and experience with personal development initiatives for the youth we are serving.

Spotlight: TIBU Maroc

Like most of the world the most popular sport in Morocco is soccer, but basketball is gaining popularity and doing so, fast. Even with the limited resources people are out, sometimes without much more than a rim and a flat ball, playing. The sport is especially popular among youth and girls. While the larger towns like Essaouira may have professional teams in the Moroccan league, most smaller towns or communes have at least an attempt at an outdoor court but are really just a half court and a dangling rim, but still, people are playing. In Essaouira, basketball is arguably more popular than soccer. We were lucky to jump right in with basketball within our first week in site, but our basketball involvement has been expanded to the national level and we couldn’t be happier.

TIBU Maroc, a Moroccan run NGO, was founded in 2010 by motivated young basketball players and coaches. TIBU stands for Teamwork, Integrity, Binding, Uprightness. Their mission goes beyond playing the game of basketball, but emphasizing and developing core values that can be used on and off the cout. In less than four years they have implemented reoccuring National School Tour, TIBU Basketball Camp, TIBU Basketball Challenge, Ramadan Basketball Night, TIBU Basketball Academy, and 3×3 Tournaments. Players and coaches from the NBA, WNBA and FIBA have collaborated with TIBU as well as the US Embassy of Morocco.

After hearing about TIBU from a former PCV and our regional manager, we were eager to begin working with them. Mohamid Amine, the president of the organization welcomed Kabir and me to the TIBU community and we are lucky to be apart of it.  We spent the last week in Casablanca coaching and teaching at the third annual training for the TIBU Basketball Academy. Their academy is based in Casablanca where kids from 6-18 practice basketball, learn English, and develop leadership and project creation through different sessions. The Moroccan coaches were an absolute pleasure to work with and the energy of the coaches, players and parents was contagious. We didn’t want the week to end. The camp days were split between basketball drills and skills, English classes and team building sessions. During our off time, we explored and ate our way through Casablanca with Amine and the other TIBU staff. We were treated like celebrities!

Here are photos from the week:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.