Futbol Without A Ball?...

As seen in the recent documentary movie in class, 'Timbuktu,' there is a deep scene that displays the people that are under the rule of the Jihad playing soccer in the dirt. However, the only issue is they are playing soccer... with no ball. Mali Jihadist forbid that soccer be played. This did not stop the determined athletes to continue training in the sport they love. The scene in the movie displayed the boys running back and forth kicking the dust in resemblance of the ball movement. Even though there was no ball, through their creativity and passion for the game they were able to still play soccer. This overall scene shows how importance Futbol is in the culture of Africa. I'm sure many people have seen pictures or videos of children creating their own balls out of anything they can find whether it is plastic bags or trash they find to mold into a circular shape. The game brings joy to the people therefore they will do whatever it takes to be apart of it. 

Mali as an Olympic Competitor

For my research paper, I will be focusing on sports in Mali specifically along with some of the history and current issues the country is facing in sports. I wanted to share a little bit of information about Mali's Olympic experience since the Olympics is the largest sporting competition held every four years. To this day, Mali has never won an Olympic medal of any sort since their first appearance in the games in the summer of 1964 in Tokyo. Mali sends very few athletes to the Olympic games when they come around. In 2016, there were only 6 athletes that competed for Mali in Rio. The numbers are microscopic in size when looking at the 558 American athletes that participated. Mali has yet to compete in the winter Olympic games, my guess is this is solely relying on the fact is there are no ski resorts in Mali for the people to have access to even learn winter sports like skiing and snowboarding. The only Olympic sports that Mali had competed in during the Rio games were Judo, Swimming and Taekwondo. Have you mad the connection with these sports yet?.... Yes, they are all sports that are not composed of teams but of the individual athletes. This is for the fact that the country of Mali cannot fund to send their athletes to compete in the olympics therefore the athletes that compete for the country train and fund all of their own athletic training. There is talk in recent articles that more African countries are growing in Olympic participants. Hopefully this will be true for Mali as well so they are able to represent the small country they are in the Olympic Games! 

Mali's 'obsession' with Football (soccer)

It is no doubt that the most popular sport across the continent Africa is football (soccer). The obsession with football specifically in Mali arose in 2002 when Mali was chosen as the location to hold the African Cup of Nations. This event is sanctioned by the CAF (Confederation of African Football). This cup is held every two years in Africa. Most towns and cities have mens professional and semi-professional teams that compete in a national league in hopes of finishing at the top if their division to make it to the African Cup of Nations. When the cup entered Mali in 2002, fan groups of the sport rapidly increased. As the Mali national team began to succeed in the cup, the fan base grew more and more each game. Salif Keita is the most notable Malian soccer player to have ever entered the sport. He led the national team to several cup victories over his professional career. He had later gone on to play in France for AS Saint-Etienne  because the soccer leagues throughout Africa are not as developed as the ones across Europe. Therefore we see this continual trend of the top African soccer players continuing their career to the leagues in Europe because they are able to earn more money by playing professionally in the European league.

 

Sports Development in Botswana

In the history of national sports ceremonies, the Botswana has never been raised honoring a medal earned on a podium. Botswana is a developing country in Africa and like most other developing countries in the world, attention and focus on sports is pushed to the side which undermines great talent that lies within athletes from the developing countries. As a nation, Botswana's view on sports has been for recreation, fun, and a simple pass time. The reason for Botswana not putting their name on the podium in athletic competitions is simply for the fact that sports within the country are underfunded, if funded at all. Being a developing country, they do not have sports leagues and programs established for athletes. The BNSC (Botswana National Sports Council) came about in 1965. This council serves as a intermediary between sports and the government. It wasn't until around 36 years ago the BNSC began to develop into what it is today. Today they have almost 30 sports in their control that they fund and have established leagues throughout the country. In the next few years when athletics begin to truly develop in the country, we will be soon to see the Botswana national flag waving in the air above the gold medal podium! 

African Cricket Association (ACA)

Cricket is the second most popular sport in Africa. Cricket is most often times compared to baseball; however it has some very different rules and concepts. South Africa is one of the leaders in the world for the sport and is one of the twelve countries that is a member of the International Cricket Council (ICC). Cricket is very popular amongst the English-speaking whites and then later became popular amongst the Asian/Muslim community.  Africa has its own council known as the ACA, African Cricket Association, which is in charge of the sport across all the participating African countries. Founded 30 years ago, there are only 22 African countries who are apart of this official association of the sport. The ACA hold tournaments annually for African members of the ICC. The three tournaments are the Under 19 Championships, Women's T 20 Championships, and the World Cricket League Africa Region. Cricket remains to be one of the top sports and Africa, however it is interesting to see that there is no Cricket association here in the United States. Could that be because it would be direct competition to baseball in the States?.... 

France Bound For Soccer

There is no doubt that soccer is the top sport in the world and has been for decades. In France, soccer is taken very seriously that from a young age children are attending soccer academies for school and continue on there as their skills develop. From the schools, the kids are able to train for soccer several hours a day and then are given the opportunity to tryout for the national teams in France and then eventually they may be given the opportunity to continue their soccer career as a professional player in the European national league.  France, being one of the most multicultural nations in the world has the largest African population in Europe. African soccer players are given the opportunity to escape their life of poverty in Africa and attend these academies in France to play soccer. It is a common misconception that due to their genetics and race that African athletes are well above their competition however this is false in most cases because they work hard to get where they are because they see this as potentially the only opportunity for a better life.

Link:https://www.quora.com/Why-does-France-have-more-Africans-in-their-national-soccer-team-than-any-other-European-nation

African Volleyball Confederation

The African Volleyball Confederation is the nationwide volleyball league in Africa that was founded in 1972. There are 53 countries across Africa that are apart of the confederation. Each country has teams that compete in this league at all different ages and skill levels. Even though the sport remains mainly amateur across the continent of Africa, the top teams from each country in the league typically will proceed to compete in the Olympic games. In the past few Olympic games, Kenya and South Africa have been able to put their teams on the internationally ranked list.

This is really interesting to see that Africa has such an established volleyball league throughout almost every country because in America, there is not a truly established league that compares to this.  Here in the US, we only have an extremely competitive professional national team, there is nothing really established for national amateurs.

Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Volleyball_Confederation