Crew from the USS Nicholas with girls from six differnt schools in the Dublin area

US Navy Scores with Basketball

The US Embassy and the crew from the USS Nicholas took advantage of the ship visit to put together a community outreach event which won plaudits from the participants.  Working with Basketball Ireland and the Oblate parish, the Embassy arranged for 13 members of the crew to coach girls from 6 different schools in the Dublin area in round-robin basketball games.  Some of the schools were located in areas that are having community integration problems. The overall goal was to talk about learning team work and tolerance through participating in sports.  There was a secondary goal of encouraging girls to continue to participate in sports and not “drop out” when they hit their teen years.

Ambassador Foley Visiting the USS Nicholas Ship

There were 114 girls between the ages of 7 and 12 participating in the event.  The event began with a member of the Nicholas crew talking about how the ship would never be able to carry out its duties if they didn’t have good teamwork and tolerance for each other’s different backgrounds.  Then the girls were divided into 12 teams that were each coached by one of the Nicholas crew members.  The grand finale was a fast-paced show match between the crew members.  The girls had great fun cheering on their favorite sailor.  At the end of the event each of the girls received a certificate for participating in the event and a key chain and poster supplied by Basketball Ireland.

The sailors were such a hit that they were invited to play with high school age players at the Stillorgan community center two days later.