May 19, 2008

DALLAS -- The SMU men's basketball team has started formal preparation for the team's African Tour. The squad leaves on May 25 for a 12-day tour that includes stays in Senegal and South Africa. The squad is practicing on campus at the Crum Basketball Center and taking an anthropology class called People of Africa. The student-athletes will keep journals during this unique trip which will be chronicled at SMUMustangs.com. The basketball trip from May 25 to June 5, will include a safari as well as tours of Johannesburg, South Africa, and Dakar, Senegal. The Mustangs in partnership with Adidas will perform coaching and skills clinics in each city. The Ponies will also play exhibition games against the national teams of Senegal and South Africa with an additional game against the SEEDS Academy in Senegal.

The trip begins with four days in Dakar, Senegal, where the Mustangs will play the Senegalese National Team at Marius N'Diaye Stadium and a game against the SEEDS Academy. The staff and student-athletes will have a coaching clinic and basketball camp for kids in Dakar. The team will also take a day-trip to St. Louis, Senegal, the hometown of current Mustangs Bamba Fall and Papa Dia.

In South Africa, the team will take a safari at Pilanesburg National Park and have a separate trip that will visit Soweto which has memorials of the struggle against apartheid (that includes a trip by Nelson Mandela's home). He squad will have a clinic in Johannesburg and face the South African National Team in an exhibition during the five-day stay. The final leg also has a visit planned to the Lesedi Cultural Village to experience tribal lifestyles, dancing, and music.