Sports can divide. Boston Red Sox versus the New York Yankees, the New Zealand All Blacks versus the South Africa Springboks, or Manchester United versus Liverpool – all passionate sports rivalries with the capacity to turn friend into foe at the mere mention of the “wrong” team.  But sports can also unite. At the U.S. Department of State, we harness the near universal passion for sports as a way to transcend differences in language, culture, and socioeconomic status and bring people together. 

Through our Sports Envoys program, we call upon a cadre of U.S. professional and collegiate athletes and coaches to travel around the world to lead programs developed in partnership with U.S. embassies and consulates. We send non-elite athletes and coaches to the United States for two-week exchanges through our Sports Visitors program. And we use sports to help underserved youth around the world develop leadership skills and achieve academic success through our International Sports Programming Initiative.

We recognize the power of sports on an international stage. We are pleased to see that the National Basketball Association (NBA) does as well. 

The NBA is a professional basketball league established in the United States in 1949 after the merger of the National Basketball League and the American Basketball Association. At the time of the NBA’s founding, all of its players came from within the United States. Now, more than a quarter of its players come from outside the United States.

As the number of international players has increased, so have the NBA’s efforts to reach beyond the United States.Through its social responsibility program, NBA Cares, the league operates a basketball development and community outreach program called Basketball without Borders and brings U.S. competition to international audiences through NBA Global Games. More recently, the NBA has launched two programs right here in Madagascar: Jr. NBA and the Basketball Africa League (BAL).

Jr. NBA is the league’s youth program, which seeks to “develop a lifelong passion for the game in boys and girls...while instilling core values including teamwork, respect, and sportsmanship.” (Source: https://jr.nba.com/jr-nba-faq/). The Jr. NBA boasts more than a dozen international programs in sub-Saharan Africa, including one right here in Madagascar.

In November 2019, NBA officials, alongside U.S. Ambassador Michael Pelletier and Malagasy Minister of Sport and Youth Tinoka Raharoarilala, launched Jr. NBA Madagascar in collaboration with the Malagasy Basketball Federation. Jr. NBA Madagascar brought together 30 boys’ teams and 20 girls’ teams from public and private high schools alike for four months of basketball training and competition. Players ranged in age from 13 – 16 years-old.  The global COVID-19 pandemic unfortunately cut the competition short, but the plan is to continue the program for at least another three years.

 The Jr. NBA program brought together 30 boys’ teams and 20 girls’ teams from schools across the capital region including (at left) a game between CEG Andoharanofotsy and Mary Mpanampy and (at right) @Miora Reazhel for Sekolintsika Analamahintsy.

 Led by Tsimbina Andrianaivo, an alumnus of U.S. universities Waldorf College and Hamline University, Jr. NBA Madagascar also made an important decision to not only focus on sports education, but to also integrate the innovative More Than Basketball curriculum, which includes English language, life skills, and leadership training into Jr. NBA Madagascar’s program.

This May, the NBA also partnered with the International Basketball Federation to debut BAL, the NBA’s first collaborative effort to operate a professional basketball league outside of North America.  Madagascar’s own Gendarmerie Nationale Basket Club (GNBC) was one of only 12 teams from across the African continent to qualify to compete in the inaugural BAL championship tournament by winning its region in the Road to BAL qualifying rounds.  Formed in 2012, GNBC was the youngest of all the teams competing in the BAL championship.  Ultimately, Egypt’s Zamalek took the crown as BAL’s first-ever champions, while GNBC ended the tournament fourth in its group.  The Road to BAL 2022 has already begun, and a Malagasy team has again earned a spot.  The ASCUT (Association Sportive de la Commune Urbaine de Toamasina) basketball club qualified to represent Madagascar in the second Road to BAL qualifying tournament by winning national and regional competitions.  The Road to BAL will culminate next year in the 2022 BAL final championship tournament of twelve teams.  Good luck ASCUT!  

Linkages between the Madagascar and the NBA could strengthen even further on July 29 when Malagasy player Sitraka Raharimanantoanina participates alongside 353 other players from all over the world in the 2021 NBA draft, potentially leading to him joining the roster of an NBA team. 

All of these initiatives should give Malagasy sports fans pride in the fact that the NBA sees Madagascar’s basketball potential and is investing its resources here in Malagasy basketball and Malagasy youth.  They also point to exciting possibilities for leveraging sport’s unifying power to build stronger bonds of friendship, teamwork, and mutual understanding between the United States and Madagascar. 

By Tsimbina Andrianaivo, National Coordinator, Jr. NBA and Ryan Bradeen, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Embassy in Madagascar and Comoros

Since late 2019, the Malagasy government has decided to invest vigorously in the creation or rehabilitation of sports infrastructure across the island. Soccer in particular is well off with about 30 stadiums concerned. The President of the Republic inaugurated three stadiums in only one month: Ihosy, Mahitsy and Ambohidratrimo. While a segment of the population questions the usefulness of such investments, we will try to understand the impacts of these projects at the society level.

Sport is an integral part of society. In Madagascar, soccer has taken a prominent place since the national team "Barea" qualified for its first Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt in 2019 and brilliantly made it to the quarter-finals. The Barea brought together the Malagasy for a competition, and even beyond. The state might have acknowledged how important soccer and sport in general were for the society. However, retaining the performances of 2019 and then qualifying again for major international competitions go through the development of sports disciplines. For soccer in particular, all aspects must be taken into consideration, supported, and improved: technical, administrative, legal, personnel, communication, succession, sports, and of course, infrastructures and facilities.

The rehabilitation or the creation of sports facilities is therefore important. The lack of sports infrastructures was sorely felt. Currently, apart from the Barikadimy Toamasina Stadium and the Kianja Barea in Mahamasina in Antananarivo, Madagascar has, in May 2021, only two stadiums approved by the “Confédération Africaine de Football” (CAF). The CNaPS Vontovorona stadium has also had the opportunity to host official international matches in recent years just like that of Rabemananjara in Mahajanga, but these two stadiums need to be improved before they can host official international meetings again.

If at present, it is assumed that the stadiums recently inaugurated in Madagascar do not yet meet the minimum requirements set by football international bodies, the creation or rehabilitation of these facilities are beneficial to local football. Mahitsy, Ambohidratrimo, Ihosy and the future infrastructures to be put in place are available to young local players who will be able to express their talents on a good pitch. National competitions can also be held on these grounds, it would be then possible to cover the greatest number of cities and to find amazing players in every corner of the island. If during the 2020-2021 edition of the Orange Pro League national football championship, 13 clubs from 9 regions shared 5 pitches in Madagascar, 8 clubs come from the capital Antananarivo. This demonstrates the importance of the availability of new stadiums which would also raise the level of football outside the big cities. Players, coaches, clubs, but also fans will enjoy these facilities.

Finally, business-wise, a micro-ecosystem can also be established around the creation of these stadiums. Note the economic opportunities for return on investment: rental, ticketing, advertisements, etc. All this can create new markets, business opportunities and jobs in the cities where these stadiums are located.

To conclude, the creation or rehabilitation of new stadiums, although they can only be used for local football at this stage, is acclaimed by the football community in Madagascar and is hoped to develop the discipline in the country. Now, it is necessary to support these infrastructure projects with a good and coherent policy: succession, the expansion of competitions, the detection of players likely to join the Barea, and the related business. This would be a big step toward the development of soccer and would help us defend the national colors with pride. Time to unite once again, sing together the national anthem, be surfed in euphoria and forget for a moment the gruelling daily routine that we live in Madagascar!

This article is also available in the 11th release of "The American" magazine. The full PDF version of magazine is available for download here.

Malagasy sport has known illustrious personalities since the independence of the country in 1960. Among them, a woman would mark her discipline and even sport in general: Rosa Rakotozafy, Olympian, double gold medalist of the African athletics championships, and currently a senior manager at the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Madagascar. The “Lady” of Malagasy sport is among the most popular and influential people in the country, and she owes her performances and success to herself. Here is her portrait.

Born in Fianarantsoa in the south-central of Madagascar 43 years ago, Rosa Rakotozafy is one of the most emblematic sportswomen on the island; first, by her high-level career on the track, but also by her efficient reconversion to the professional sports world in which she had managed to maintain herself for eight years and three different regimes due to her commitment and her assumption of responsibility.

The athlete – specialized in 100m hurdles and 200m first – stood out by reaching the finals of the Francophonie Games held in Antananarivo in 1997. At the time, she was just 20 years old and was later awarded a scholarship, sending her immediately to the International Center of Athletics of Dakar for six years of intense training and improvement (1997 - 2003).

The results were felt quickly when, in 1998, Rosa won a Gold medal during the Indian Ocean Islands Games held in Reunion. From then on, she consecutively participated in several international sport events with different degrees of success.

In 1999, the Fianarantsoa woman engraved her name in the annals of Malagasy athletics by winning the national record of the 100 metres hurdles in 12 seconds 84 during a competition in Niort, France, and the national record of the 200 metres in 23 seconds 09 in Pretoria, South Africa.

To date, her achievement as a double record holder has not yet been surpassed. Qualified for the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, then as the flag bearer of the Malagasy delegation four years later at the Athens Olympic Games, Rosa had undoubtedly won her two best medals at the 2002 African Championships and 2004. At both events, she made it to the top step of the podium. Her affiliation with the Darra Atletica Vigevano Athletics Club in Milan (2003-2005) and her training in high-level sports in Heidelberg in Germany between 2003 and 2004 had undoubtedly been beneficial to her.

To her rich athletic career was added another gold medal at the 2011 Islands Games in Seychelles, and a bronze medal at the African Games in Maputo, Mozambique the same year, after winning it in 2006. The following year, she finished fifth in the final of the African Championships in Benin. In the meantime, she was gradually preparing her reconversion for the professional scene.

She was first a member of the Malagasy Olympic Committee as a representative of the Olympians from 2009 to 2014. She took the leadership of the Association of Olympians of Madagascar in 2012 and is still its president today. Rosa joined the Cabinet of the Ministry of Youth and Sports from 2012 to 2014. In 2014, she was appointed Director of Federal Sport by former Minister of Sports Anicet Andriamosarisoa.

Having become an expert and national correspondent of the Conference of Francophone Youth and Sports Ministers (COFNEJES) since 2014, she was also part of the 2016 class of the Center for Diplomatic and Strategic Studies of Madagascar (CEDS) and presided her cohort.

After the change of regime and the advent of Tinoka Roberto at the head of the Ministry in 2019, Rosa became General Director of Sports. Her office is based at the Ministry headquarters at the Place Goulette in Antananarivo. Rosa is the first-ever Malagasy woman appointed to endorse such responsibilities.

Mother of 3 children, Rosa Rakotozafy is fully involved in the world of sport and wants to bring her high-level experience. Before joining the Ministry of Youth and Sports in 2012, she had lent a hand to other sports federations including judo, petanque and basketball when they organized continental competitions in the early 2010s.

As a generous athlete, Rosa Rakotozafy was omnipresent during the epic of the Barea during the 2019 AfCoN in Egypt. She is the image of sport; she is the one who wins and improves. In September 2020,

Rosa was elected President of UNESCO’s Inter-Governmental Committee for Physical Education and Sport (CIGEPS), with 5 vice-president countries including Russia, Tunisia, Cuba, Bulgaria, Japan. She is also the first woman to hold this position since the creation of the committee in 1978.

The champion's journey demonstrates a striking reality: there are no miracles in sport and in life in general. Her watchwords were: training, capacity building and retraining. It is all about hard work. Nothing comes by chance. She is ambitious, she wants to go far. At any rate, she does not intend to stop where she is currently.