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Someone once said that sports form a sort universal language that binds together the world.
Seven Utah County high school basketball players learned first-hand this spring on a service trip to the remote African country of Mali.
The self-financed group traveled to a hot and arid desert country that had been at war for many years and hosts few visitors. The young men came to play basketball and help make bricks that would be used to expand a school.
Mike Clayton, a Utah County accountant who has traveled to Mali the last five years with a group of eye doctors, organized the trip that began April 1 and ended April 9.
"Last year, we filled a 20-foot container with basketball hoops and cement and built an outdoor basketball court for a school of 3,000 students that never had a court," Clayton said. "The trip was so successful that we decided to do it again this year. We made bricks to double the size of a school and played two Mali national teams."
The Utah team consisted of Skyridge's Braydon Cuff, Orem's Ike Richards, Springville's Josh Elison, Mountain View's Kedrick Clayton, Kyle Wilson and Tyson Wilson and Salem Hills' Eli Buettenmuller.
None of the group had ever been outside of the United States except for a Caribbean cruise.
The boys either slept outdoors under the stars on mosquito-net draped cots or inside mud huts to experience first-hand what African life is like. They attended church inside a chicken coop and survived daytime temperatures that were well into the 100s.
"We went to a bunch of little villages with schools," Cuff said. "We taught the kids English, numbers, colors and the names of body parts. We played games like Frisbee and bubbles. We went to an orphanage."
Cuff said it was easy to connect with the Malians through basketball.
The Utah team lost by 13 points to the Mali national 19- and 20-year-olds team but defeated the 17-and-under team.
Kedrik Clayton said that playing on the concrete court in one game under unfamiliar international rules proved to be an interesting challenge.
"You could make one move and then you would have to jump or stop and pass," he said. "If you made more than one move, you would either slip or the ball would hit a bump and would bounce away."
Buettenmuller asked some of the Africans if they knew anything about the NBA.
"They all knew about the Cavs and the Warriors," he said. "But nobody knew the Jazz."
The experience seems to have made a lasting impression on the participants.
"I learned how privileged you are in America," Buettenmuller said. "We take for granted the most basic things such as air conditioning. That would blow their minds. I was impressed at how kind they are and how the kids and adults smile at you."
Elison said he learned that you don't need a lot of material goods to be happy.
"They didn't have basketball shoes that were nice," Richards said. "They didn't have anything."
Kedrick Clayton went on the first Utah trip to Mali a year ago when the team stayed in a hotel. He preferred the more primitive sleeping arrangements this trip.
"You get to experience what they do and learn to serve people without worrying about material things," he said. "These were the happiest days of our lives. Serving people anywhere can make you happy and bring people together."
The players joked that they weren't very good at making bricks.
For the most part, the boys ate freeze dried food they brought with them, but they tried an African dish with rice and a peanut sauce as well as some french fries in a vegetable sauce.
The Utah athletes played the older Mali national team in the country's only indoor gym, staying with the older team for a half before falling behind.
"Some of the Malians were cheering for us during the games," Cuff said.
But the big takeaway was more about the experience than the games.
Twitter @tribtomwharton