Basketball: Boris Diaw in immersion with the French army in Ivory Coast

At the helm of the pinnace, Boris Diaw listens carefully to the officers' explanations. The former basketball player is not sailing quietly on the Arcachon basin, where he owns a house, but is indeed at full speed maneuvering on the Ébrié lagoon which borders the city of Abidjan, in the Côte of Ivory, for miles.

If the boat has the same name, it does not have the same function in this part of the globe. "These were going much faster," laughs the 2014 NBA champion with the San Antonio Spurs. For several days, last week, the former basketball player swapped his costume as president of the club Boulogne-Levallois (4th in Jeep Elite) for his uniform of captain reservist in the French Navy. A rank he has been sporting "with pride" since June 2018. "The role of a citizen reservist is to make the link between the armed forces and the nation," explains an officer on the spot. These ambassadors have a more heard voice than ours. Immersion remains the best way to understand our action. "

Boris Diaw poses with soldiers on mission in Côte d'Ivoire. / DR

Diaw, lieutenant, shared the daily life of the French armed forces in the Port-Bouët camp, one of the largest outside France with 1,000 soldiers and, according to an officer, "a point of support strategic for all of Central and West Africa ”. Nearby, the Gulf of Guinea is one of the most dangerous areas due to pirates.

If he did not go to the risky places, the current vice-manager of the France team did not receive special treatment. Housed within the barracks, in a single room, this epicurean shared meals with the other officers.

"I am a reservist in the national navy but here there are not many sailors, smiles the international with the 247 capes in the France team. There are mainly representatives of the army and the air force. It is interesting to discover and see other facets of the army. To exchange, take advantage of these experiences. It's always rich to discover new things. They explained to me what the Abidjan base, which covers all of West Africa, is for. We visited Abidjan by land and by the lagoon. For my marine side, it was also interesting. "

View this post on Instagram

Thank you for these 4 days on board the hydrographic boat of the national navy "le borda". We were on a mission with SHOM to probe the seabed of the French coast in order to establish the most precise nautical charts possible. A very enriching stay where I could learn a lot at all levels. #superequipage # bordaléla #supermission Thanks for these 4 days aboard the hydrographic ship from the french navy "the borda". We had a mission of using a sonar for mapping the sea floor of the french coast to establish sea charts as precise as possible. I learned a lot during this enriching trip.

A post shared by Borisdiaw (@diawboris) on Apr 25, 2019 at 5:55 am PDT

It is not the first time that the 2013 European champion has lived close to the daily life of the military. Since his enthronement in Toulon in 2018, he has spent a week at the heart of the Lorient marine base, where the school for the group of fusiliers marines - body to which Diaw belongs - is located, and another week on the waves on a ship which creates and checks nautical charts. "It's interesting for me as a boater, I use nautical charts every day and it allowed me to understand how they were made, says Diaw who owns a catamaran - baptized" Babac "- with which he plan to go around the world. This is another facet of the army that we do not know and that has implications for the civilian. "

Newsletter - The essentials of the news

I'm registering

Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to allow you to receive our news and commercial offers. Find out more

This week in Ivory Coast was also the first experience of the captain of the Navy abroad. A first full of symbols for Diaw, whose paternal family is Senegalese. "It is important to share moments with people who are far from their families, who live far from home," says the person concerned. Above all, I am a citizen of the world, whether a young person needs me in Asia, Africa or Oceania, it is the same for me. "

Since retiring from the prosecution, Diaw has had many experiences that were not allowed before, such as tackling the summit of Mont-Blanc or trekking around the world like in South Africa in mid-January.

View this post on Instagram

Visiting the youth of Ivory Coast, and had the great honor of having the soccer legend @didierdrogba joining us for a basketball session. #AfricanYouth

A post shared by Borisdiaw (@diawboris) on Jan 29, 2020 at 2:04 pm PST

But with the former captain of the France team, the big orange ball is never far away. Besides his activities as officers, Boris Diaw went to meet kids from the Koumassi district in Abidjan for the opening of the doors of a huge sports complex called the Agora - inaugurated in December by French President Emmanuel Macron and his Ivorian counterpart Alassane Ouattara.

Surrounded by dozens of budding basketball players, Diaw distilled his advice. Former footballer Didier Drogba, a true icon in his country, was also present. "We took advantage of my presence during these few days to visit the Ivorian youth, the young basketball players in the area," he said. There is a lot of enthusiasm for basketball even if it is above all a land of football. We did training with associations and young people in different neighborhoods of Abidjan. These are always good times. This makes it possible to link the useful with the pleasant. As often with Diaw.

Boris Diaw and Didier Drogba meet young Ivorians./DR