Mer Nyibong was just three years old when he bounced his first basketball.
He quickly became hooked, honing his skills daily alongside his two sisters on a basketball court near to their home in Finland.
And all those sibling training sessions paid off. For today, basketball is still a big part of all of their lives.
Now aged 15, Mer is a Special Olympics athlete.
He is able to spend quality time with older sister Amira as she’s a Unified partner—a player without an intellectual disability who plays on the same team as Special Olympics athletes.
Amira remembered, “I've been playing basketball since I was 11 years old.
“So as soon as Mer could walk, I was giving him a basketball and telling him what to do.
“His twin sister Met played too and it really brought us all close together.”
Amira, now aged 26, likes to think she inspired Mer but he disagrees.
“I thought about basketball alone and liked it,” said Mer.
“I enjoy basketball because I like to make new friends and I like running and I am good at taking rebounds and passing the ball to my teammates.”
Both are thrilled to be part of Special Olympics, sharing the memorable experiences it entails.
Unified Basketball Camp
Their latest adventure came in the shape of the pioneering four-day FIBA EuroBasket Unified Basketball camp in Tampere, Finland, organised as part of the European Union (EU)-funded Unified Through Basketball (UTB) project which was implemented by the Finnish Basketball Federation.
Mer and Amira were among 40 Special Olympics players from Finland, Bulgaria and Lithuania taking part.
Participants played and trained, enjoyed Finnish culture in the form of saunas and cold water swimming, ate delicious food and made lots of friends. The aim of the UTB project is to promote equality through sport and physical activity in Finland and internationally—and it’s clear from Mer and Amira’s experience that this was achieved.
Amira added, “It was very interesting because although we did not have a common language to use, basketball was our language. Everyone understood basketball.”
The camp ran alongside the European basketball championship, FIBA EuroBasket.
Camp Highlights
A highlight came when they watched the Germany versus Lithuania game and Mer took part in a Unified Sports exhibition match at half-time.
Mer and Amira are in different divisions this year so don’t get to play together as often as they would like.
So they were thrilled to compete against each other in a final day tournament at the camp.
“I liked playing against Amira and I scored one basket against her,” said Mer.
Amira added, “Mer is very tall, he is 190cm and I am 170cm, so when he gets the ball up, that's it, you cannot get it anymore.”
Basketball has helped Mer in various ways including enhancing his ability to communicate with people outside of his family.
Amira added, “Mer has an intellectual disability and his understanding has now got better thanks to basketball. At camp, I noticed that he now knows what to do straight away when given instructions, which is brilliant.”
Amira, who used to play in the highest basketball league in Finland, is even happier now she is a Unified partner.
“We practise twice a week and it’s really fun,” she said.
“I really do enjoy it, it’s different because there are girls and boys in the same team.
“Everyone has their own challenges, but the players are very funny, we have a lot of different characters.”
Family Time
Mer lives in Kotka with his parents while Amira has moved to Helsinki where she works in child protection. Mer’s twin sister Met plays basketball in Finland’s first division.
“Basketball is definitely one of the topics that we three talk about a lot when we get together,” said Amira.
Mer added, “We also like to bake together, go to the store and go to church.”
Mer and Amira will be supporting over 25,000 basketball enthusiasts from more than 35 countries set to enjoy the 22nd edition of Special Olympics European Basketball Week from 25 November to 3 December, with the support of Toyota Motor Europe and UPS, and the endorsement from FIBA Europe and FIBA Foundation.
