Sports Bring Together Brazilians and Americans

For the first time, former students of U.S. government exchange programs with a sports theme gathered to share experiences and develop partnerships and projects to strengthen the alumni network. The goal of the Sports Alumni Summit, which took place in June, was to outline projects around sports, education, and social inclusion for the next decade. The program consolidated the Mission Brazil Sports for All initiative and was an opportunity to build the new sports alumni network to promote meaningful discussions about the impact of recent mega-events (World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games) and the future for the broader Brazilian sports community. In his speech at the event, U.S. Consul General in São Paulo Ricardo Zuniga (photo) thanked partners and participants and emphasized: “We understand the power of sports to reach all levels of society and create opportunities, and through our sports diplomacy programs, we seek to promote sports as a tool for access and transformation. Sports is certainly a shared passion between our countries, with great potential to generate opportunities for cooperation, exchanges, and rapprochement between Brazilians and Americans.”