VOA常速英语:篮球为在美索马里青年提供积极出路

Too often young Somali-Americans in Minnesota have made headlines for all the wrong reasons:a small number have fallen prey to the lure of drugs, gangs and extremist ideology.

But youth organizations in the state are trying to challenge all that.A group of 12 youth basketball organizations representing mosques around the Twin Cities held a tournament where young people were given the chance to build athletic skills and gain self-esteem.

One of the players from the al-Rawda team, representing one of the mosques and won the tournament,explained why it was so important.

Today we have succeeded in winning the cup after beating the finalist Umatul-Islam club.We had worked very hard for this and we are so excited about it."

Minnesota is home to the largest Somali community in the U.S.,with more than 20,000 people living in the state out of a total of 80,000 across the country.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), about a dozen people have joined militant groups in Syria in recent years and about 22 men have been lured to join al-Shabab in Somalia dating back to 2007.Most recently, nine Somali-American men were accused of plotting to join ISIS,a Minnesota federal court handed them jail sentences.

Programs like the basketball tournament are geared toward providing extracurricular activities to fend off negative influences.

A local organization behind the tournament, "For the Youth, by the Youth,"says the impact of the competition is felt far beyond the basketball courts.

“The reason we start this proram is when we saw what the youth are going through and how they were involved with gang fights among themselves, when we saw how they are suspected or labeled as extremists,we started to bring them together in order to prevent them from getting involved with drugs.We found a place where they can stay fit and stay busy and avoid negative influences.”

One of the players, Abdullahi Bare, agrees that sport can be a unifying force for good.This kind of tournament brings us together as brothers.We come together and when we finish the games we eat together and communicate as well."

The basketball tournament is an annual event in Minnesota that has been going on for three years.

For Abdi H. Mahamud, Salem Solomon, VOA news.