About "Micronesia Wants Basketball"

 

About 6 degrees above the equator and roughly halfway between Hawaii and the Philippines, there rests a small island called Pohnpei, one of the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia. On Pohnpei, there is a rural municipality called Madolenihwm. The students at Madolenihwm High School have ambitious dreams of playing competetive basketball.

 

The problem is that most of them play barefoot or in flip-flops because they don't have basketball sneakers. As a result, many of them get cuts on their toes and feet. They also want to look like a team, but the school can't buy them jerseys. Additionally, we don't have any basketballs, and we don't have money for transportation to play in tournaments. Micronesia Wants Basketball is a fundraiser to raise $3,500 for sneakers, jerseys, basketballs, ball pumps, tournament fees and transportation to other schools for the students on the varsity and junior varsity basketball teams of Madolenihwm High School. 

The goal is to get these passionate and basketball-loving students to play basketball safely and with pride. Then we want to do the same thing for other high schools on the island. Eventually, we want to get sneakers and jerseys for basketball teams of other high schools in the other states of the Federated States of Micronesia. With enough donations, the possibilities are endless. 

 

No one should be turned away from the game of basketball because they don't have a pair of sneakers.