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International sport-for-development nonprofit Shooting Touch and the Pat Connaughton Foundation (PCF) recently opened the first-ever #ConnaughtonCourt outside of the U.S. Located in Rukara Sector, Rwanda, East Africa, the basketball court intends to unite the local community through the sport and create life-changing opportunities.
Past Beyond Sport Global Award winner Shooting Touch uses the mobilizing power of basketball to bridge health and opportunity gaps for youth and women facing racial, gender and economic inequalities in Boston and Rwanda. Founded in 2007, it provides access to physical activity, health education and health interventions.
Shooting Touch Rwanda launched in 2012 and operates programs in six sectors across the Eastern Province. It focuses on providing access to basketball for youth and women, while working to improve public health and gender equality in rural communities. This site marks its first court built in partnership with the Milwaukee Bucks’ Pat Connaughton through his Foundation.
“Building a basketball court with Shooting Touch isn’t just about creating a space for sport—it’s about giving an entire community access to something much bigger,” said Liza Gallagher, Executive Director of Shooting Touch. “Thanks to the incredible support of the Pat Connaughton Foundation, thousands of youth and women in Rwanda will now have a safe place to play, learn and grow. By combining the love of the game with vital education and services, this partnership is creating lasting change that will impact generations to come.”
“This project is a great representation of our commitment to create access to athletics for the next generation of student-athletes worldwide. My foundation is proud to help enhance the incredible work that is already being done in Rwanda. Basketball is a universal language that can positively impact change while inspiring the next generation to dream big, and we’re honored to be a part of it,” said Connaughton.
The community completed the court in August and nearly 1,000 boys, girls and women use it every week. Shooting Touch will also use the court as part of its holistic programming on public health, gender equality and economic mobility. The programs center around a mental, physical and social health curriculum, offering on- and off-court education, health intervention, mentorship and more, providing pathways to a better future.
Additionally, Shooting Touch operates through a gender lens, ensuring not just equal opportunity on the basketball courts, but in all aspects of life. As a women-led organization with an equal male to women coach ratio and 70% girls’ participants, it helps reshape the negative structures holding women and girls back from equal rights and reaching their true potential.
With 12 courts completed and five more underway the Pat Connaughton Foundation is continuing to expand its international reach to foster growth, education and community. The Foundation focuses on teaching student-athletes the translatable life skills sports instill, including hard work, teamwork, leadership, accountability and discipline. During the last eight years it has hosted 27 clinics, completed 13 Courts with 12 Schools/Organizations and impacted over 25,300 youth student-athletes.
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