SSI President Heads to Africa for Basketball Clinic with Legendary Ben Jobe and NBA International

August 25, 2008 - (Birmingham, AL) – Nichelle Gainey, president and CEO of SilverStone International, will be a featured speaker at the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders’ Africa Stopover in Senegal with legendary basketball player and HBCU coach Ben Jobe, a prominent figure in the ESPN documentary film, “Black Magic.”

The Stopover, from August 30 to Sept. 2, benefits the SEEDS Foundation, an educational and athletic training program started by Amadou Gallo Fall, Senior Vice President of International Affairs for the Dallas Mavericks, whose basketball skills won him a U.S. scholarship to the University of the District of Columbia.

SEEDS (Sports for Education and Economic Development in Senegal) Academy furthers the foundation’s goals by providing a boarding school for Senegalese boys ages 19 and below to live, study and train in basketball year round. Basketball Without Borders is an instructional basketball camp for young people that utilizes the sport as a vehicle to influence positive social change. The camp features dozens of current and former NBA players and team personnel as camp coaches for 100 young athletes.

“We are excited to have someone with Ms. Gainey’s sports background working with us to take SEEDS’ mission beyond Senegal’s borders,” Fall said. “SSI’s strategic role in improving soccer programs in the U.S. and her relationships with national sports leaders throughout Africa makes her a key player in spreading SEEDS’ educational and athletic opportunities to youths in other African countries, so they can develop to their fullest potential.”

Ben Jobe – the legendary basketball player and renowned coach at Historically Black Colleges and Universities including AMU (Alabama A&M University), ASU (Alabama State University) and Tuskegee University – will host a basketball clinic at the camp for local Senegalese coaches.

Gainey reconnected with Jobe during SSI’s marketing efforts for the ESPN documentary “Black Magic,” in which Jobe was prominently featured. For Jobe, who retired and lives in Montgomery, AL, the trip marks his first return to western Africa since 1961, when he first exposed its youths to his unique style of basketball.

Both Jobe and Gainey will speak during events that include dedication of new basketball courts, and a tournament sponsored by SEEDS Foundation Board member and NBA star DeSagana Diop, a native of Senegal. The Stopover in Dakar, Senegal’s capital city, will also benefit LeDantec Hospital, West Africa’s pediatric cancer treatment facility.

“Mr. Jobe and I are honored to be part of such a historic event in the life of Senegal’s evolving basketball program,” Gainey said. “The hope is that, by developing life skills as well as athleticism in African youths, SEEDS can offer them yet another road for success, like soccer does for many youths throughout the world.”

Ms. Gainey just returned from the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China, where she was the guest of leaders of CAF (the Confederation of African Football) and FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), which organized Olympic soccer events in Beijing.

SilverStone International
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Press Contact: Barbara Humphrey, (205) 999-5339

SilverStone International (SSI) is a results-oriented, full-service corporate consulting firm dedicated to enhancing the capacity of non-profit and for-profit organizations, with a special emphasis in the area of sports management and marketing. The company is based in Birmingham, Alabama with offices located currently in New York and South Africa. SSI's lead consultant is President/CEO Nichelle Gainey, who has a 15-year background in sports management, marketing and consulting.

This release was published on openPR.