Penguin
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Fanta Koné ’22 FROM CUSHING BASKETBALL STAR TO MALI NATIONAL TEAM Imagine arriving at Logan Airport from
That accomplishment is no surprise
thousands of miles away, speaking almost
to Cushing Coach Emily Roller. “Fanta
no English and knowing it would be a long
is absolutely one of—if not the—best
time before you travel home again. But
basketball players we have had in 20
this opportunity—to study and play your
years,” said Roller. “She's an incredibly
sport at Cushing Academy—could change
powerful athlete, really quick, really
your life. Then, picture suffering a season-
strong. She’s got great court vision and is
ending injury, undergoing major surgery,
an outstanding defender, but the thing
and being sent away from campus in this
that makes her the best is she’s incredibly
foreign country as a pandemic overtook
humble. There isn’t a word that comes
the world.
from her that doesn’t put her teammates first. She is wildly talented and wildly
That is Fanta Koné’s Cushing story. It
humble at the same time.”
began in 2019, when she was discovered through the Women NBA Academy
Fanta began playing basketball at 11 and
Africa, a program that develops talented
stood out almost immediately. One of
basketball players on that continent and connects some with
her early memories is being chosen as the most valuable player
schools in the United States. The program is a win-win: Cushing
of her club team. Those kudos got her noticed by the coaches
gets a huge basketball talent. Fanta gets a world-class education
who oversee the national team. “It is a blessing to play for your
that will set her up to attend college in the United States. Aicha
country,” Fanta said. “This is going to be my fourth time to play
Ndour ’20 also came to Cushing through the academy.
for Mali and I am just happy.”
But not long after Fanta, a point guard, arrived in Ashburnham
One of her favorite memories from previous national team
in 2019, things changed dramatically. She tore her ACL in
competitions was playing against the United States team in 2018.
January 2020 and had surgery to repair it in February. As she was
“We lost by like, 30 points,” Fanta remembered, laughing. “It
beginning rehab, campus shut down because of the coronavirus
was a good game.” The style of play in the United States is more
and Fanta decamped to live, recuperate, and do Zoom classes
aggressive than in Mali, which means her Cushing experience is
with a family in Indianapolis. She arrived back at Cushing
crucial to help her get ready for international competition.
last fall and was back on the court, making great plays, and continuing to study and improve her English.
For Roller, Fanta’s athletic talent is matched by her extraordinary personal qualities, including her sense of humor, which is
Now 19 and heading into her senior year at Cushing, Fanta’s
evident in a little twinkle in her eye when she speaks. “When you
journey has her playing on an international stage. She competed
think about COVID, a new language, a new community, major
this summer at the Under-19 FIBA World Cup in Hungary as a
surgery, she hadn’t seen her family, she hadn't been home...
member of the U-19 National Team for her home country of Mali.
she didn't blink. She just kept moving forward,” said Roller. “She
This is actually her fourth stint on the national team: She played
would always just ask, ‘What’s the next thing we have to do?
on the Under-16 team, the Under-17 team, and the Under-19 team
Coach, what’s the next thing I need to do? How do I get back?’
for the first time in 2019.
So she’s a really, really
That year Fanta was a key
resilient young woman.”
contributor as Mali became the first-ever African
Fanta plans to take that
nation quarter-finalists
resilience a long way. She
at FIBA’s U19 Women’s
hopes that her future will
World Cup. Fanta made her
include playing college
mark in that contest with
basketball and studying
her assists. She had 11,
engineering or business in
blowing past the previous
the United States. Then,
tournament record of 7.
Fanta dreams, perhaps the WNBA.
