Serbia Creates Summer Basketball Camp in Kragujevac
Over one hundred teenagers, ages 14 - 17, from nine municipalities
of Central Serbia participated in the Kragujevac Summer Basketball
Camp, managed by Mr. Rod Wood, a basketball coach from Mary
Washington College in Fredricksburg, VA. Girls and boys
from the region gathered and, through basketball games and
instruction,
exchanged experiences and built new friendships. 
"Sport is a great way to expose young people to the
possibilities for greater social engagement and for addressing
community problems,” explained Zoran Nikolic, a local
NGO manager and partner in the "Community Revitalization
through Democratic Action" (CRDA) program, a civil society
program working throughout Serbia that uses community development
activities to build trust between different ethnic and religious
groups, to demonstrate the value of citizen participation,
to support grass roots democratic action and to bring immediate
improvement in people’s living conditions. Working
with community groups on civic participation, community infrastructure,
income generating and environmental improvement projects,
CRDA helps citizens obtain the information and resources
needed to make decisions on issues affecting their lives.
The basketball camp is a civic participation project developed
by community groups and ACDI/VOCA, the USAID CRDA implementing
partner in Central Serbia.
 Youth provide an opportunity for increasing civic participation
by getting youth excited and interested in their communities
and offering them opportunities to participate in activities
aimed at improving their communities. Few, if any, programs
exist which encourage volunteer civic participation activities.
The Summer Basketball Camp provides opportunities for volunteer
civic participation in an environment that is fun and exciting,
which demonstrates to youth that community participation
can be fun and rewarding. By including participants from
all 14 municipalities, these youth may return to their communities
to plan and participate in activities of their own, particularly
in the CRDA framework.
 During the weeks of camps, players participate in planned
civic participation and other activities, including discussions
and training on civic participation, youth participation
in the CRDA process, community leadership, and the interrelationship
between sports and academics. In addition to engaging participants
in daily basketball drills, games and lectures, each team
assisted with the installation of two new basketball hoops
in a park in downtown Kragujevac.
 "The camp is an effective and fun way to connect with
youth, not only in this region, but across Serbia and Montenegro.
This project opens the door for a multitude of similar projects
using basketball and other sports to build confidence and
community," stated Mr. Wood. The project utilizes sports
to encourage youth to discuss common issues and potential
solutions.
During the final weekend of the camp, teams from each municipality
participated in a tournament attended by several hundred
spectators.
Through the CRDA program, USAID provided funds valued at
$10,888 for the Kragujevac Summer Basketball Camp. Rod Wood
served as a volunteer to the project and returned to Northern
Virginia to coach Mary Washington College to it’s first
Divisional Championship ever! His experience in Serbia obviously
paid off.
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