STANFORD, Calif. – A pair of former Stanford student-athletes will travel to Brazil as part of the U.S. Department of State’s Sports Envoys program. Basketball stars Chiney Ogwumike and Jason Collins touch down in Rio de Janeiro today and will be in the country until October 21, spending their time focusing on youth empowerment and inclusion.
As part of the lead up to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil, the Sports Envoys will meet with Olympic and Paralympic officials, as well as NGOs that work with youth such as Play Life World and the Brazilian Association for People with Disabilities. Ogwumike and Collins will also lead a number of speaking opportunities and basketball clinics, all with the purpose of empowering youth and encouraging young people to be not only good athletes, but outstanding students and citizens.
The U.S. State Department initiative was launched in 2003 and aims to spread values such as social inclusion, teamwork, discipline, confidence and leadership through sports.
On Monday, the two will participate in activities with the athletes of the Olympic Vila da Mangueira. The next day, they will be involved in a wheelchair basketball demonstration with the Niterói Association for the Physically Disabled (ANDEF), a NGO active in the field of safeguarding and promoting the rights of people with disabilities. Soon after, Ogwumike and Collins will head for the Cruzada São Sebastião, in Leblon, where they will also interact with local athletes.
This is the second such involvement for Stanford alums with the U.S. State Department in the past year. In January, Jeremy Guthrie, Jessica Mendoza and Jed Lowrie traveled to Central and South America as part of the “Diamond Diplomacy” program, which leveraged baseball and softball’s ability to engage youth audiences to promote conflict resolution, gender equality and cooperation.
Follow the trip on Twitter @SportsDiplomacy and @EmbaixadaEUA on Twitter