SEED Academy: Where basketball helps produce the African leaders of tomorrow

“We are using basketball as a catalyst, as a way to help these kids to reach their full potential.”

This is how El Kabir Pene summed up the goal of SEED Academy in an exclusive interview with Olympics.com.

The former member of the Senegalese basketball national team is the general manager of SEED Academy, a student-athlete institution bringing together 20 boys and 20 girls in the Centre National d'Éducation Populaire et Sportive du Sénégal (CNEPS) in Thiès.

On the campus some 50 km from Dakar, students from sixth to 12th grade pursue their dreams on the basketball courts and in classrooms. Their schedule lets them train at least two hours a day in parallel with their schoolwork.

Some students stay with host families, while others sleep in dormitories metres from the courts. In all cases, the ball is never too far away, whether it is drawn on the walls of the building or in the rooms within reach of the apprentice basketball players.

Those chosen to attend SEED Academy come from all over Africa.

They are selected through a process which reinforces how the academy prioritises education as well as sports. The admission tests include basketball, French, English, maths and sometimes the sciences.

Throughout the scholarship, the connection between sport and education remains close with training opportunities linked to school grades. At the SEED Academy, sport is primarily a means to train the “African leaders of tomorrow”.

“Basketball is only a pretext. In reality, studies are the priority. We want these young girls and boys to be successful. We want to train them so that they can be leaders everywhere,” explains Alioune Chimère Diouf, the head of education at SEED Academy.

The SEED Academy is a way to enter prestigious American universities

The students agree with this way of conceiving their journey.

"The academy is a very good opportunity for young people in Senegal to show their talents, to have opportunities to travel and to learn a lot of things," says Fatou Faye Sané who is unafraid of talking in front of the camera despite her young age.

"You have to get good grades. You have to work at school and as well as on the court. You need to be a hard worker to come here. It’s like being at home - notebooks, lessons, everything is assessed," explains Saran Tohonamou, a new student from Guinea.

For Tohonamou, attending SEED Academy is an important stepping stone on her way to the United States.

Many students have the goal of crossing the Atlantic and the courses are designed to prepare them for that academically as well as socially. Tutoring sessions are organised during a free afternoon to enhance their skills in many areas including communication.

During basketball training sessions, they experience life in the community which allows them to push themselves and potentially progress as a player so that they can obtain a university scholarship.

By pursuing the same goals in their personal lives as they do on the court, the students are building something far stronger than a team. They're also building a family.

“I learned values and something more important than playing basketball. I discovered a second family here," said Mame Fatou Konaré, a former student and now head of communication at SEED Academy.

"It’s not just a team that trains and plays together, but 20 girls living together, who have the same opportunities and the same aspirations. We’ve stayed in touch because the link between us is forever." 

Her journey is a source of pride for her former teachers. Above all, it’s proof that the greatest successes of the SEED Academy are not always the ones told by the sports media.

"You can go all around the world but you need to come back here to share your knowledge"

El Kabir Pene, the general manager, also highlights the men and women who shine away from basketball.

"I remember the human and social achievements of the young we took away from the streets. Some of them were hopeless, and now they have responsibilities in banks or companies on an international scale."

The students of the SEED Academy run after their dreams even faster than after the ball. And just as on the court, team spirit is a major factor.

Giving back is a pillar of the institution and a theme that comes up in several discussions.

It is also displayed in the general manager’s office and recalled with pictures of former players like Gorgui Dieng, who is playing his 10th season in the NBA.

Though thousands of miles away in Texas playing for the San Antonio Spurs, he remains close to the Academy which helped him get into the University of Louisville.

"What matters is not how you play, but the impact you have on the people around you,” emphasises Mame Fatou Konaré.

As in any family, the elders advise the youngsters to help them prepare for the challenge they’ll face such as moving to a new country.

Ibrahima Sankaré attended SEED Academy, then studied in the United States, became a professional basketball player and played for the Senegalese national team.

He still returns often to train in Thiès and shares stories from his own life:

“The best thing you can do is to bring back your experience and advise these young players who have the same dreams as you. They once asked me more than 50 questions about my journey,” recalls the player who still considers SEED as his family.

The alumni keep in touch with the younger generation to maintain this virtuous circle.

Matar Mbodj is another example and now coaches at the academy where he was once a student.

“You can go all around the world but you need to come back here to share your knowledge and give them the opportunity to play anywhere in the world and be a better person.”

A link between SEED Academy and the Ubuntu philosophy

El Kabir Pene sums up this mindset with the Ubuntu philosophy. Each member of the SEED Academy is part of something bigger than just themselves, and this mantra has remained for more than two decades.

The name and the logo of the institution are a reminder of this will.

“SEED is the seed. And this seed grows and expands until it becomes a baobab, a gigantic tree which plunges its deep roots into the earth where our values lie. Its gnarled and majestic trunk symbolises everything that we are putting in place around this project. And it is said that each of its branches prepares in its buds the new generation that continues to perpetuate this tradition.

"This transmission is the sap that should allow SEED to last as long as a baobab tree, which is to say, centuries.”

The SEED Academy has already contributed to the successes, both in basketball and in life, of many young African people.

And it is only at the beginning.