Fanta Koné ’22

FROM CUSHING BASKETBALL STAR TO MALI NATIONAL TEAM

Imagine arriving at Logan Airport from thousands of miles away, speaking almost no English and knowing it would be a long time before you travel home again. But this opportunity—to study and play your sport at Cushing Academy—could change your life. Then, picture suffering a seasonending injury, undergoing major surgery, and being sent away from campus in this foreign country as a pandemic overtook the world.

That is Fanta Koné’s Cushing story. It began in 2019, when she was discovered through the Women NBA Academy Africa, a program that develops talented basketball players on that continent and connects some with schools in the United States. The program is a win-win: Cushing gets a huge basketball talent. Fanta gets a world-class education that will set her up to attend college in the United States. Aicha Ndour ’20 also came to Cushing through the academy.

But not long after Fanta, a point guard, arrived in Ashburnham in 2019, things changed dramatically. She tore her ACL in January 2020 and had surgery to repair it in February. As she was beginning rehab, campus shut down because of the coronavirus and Fanta decamped to live, recuperate, and do Zoom classes with a family in Indianapolis. She arrived back at Cushing last fall and was back on the court, making great plays, and continuing to study and improve her English.

Now 19 and heading into her senior year at Cushing, Fanta’s journey has her playing on an international stage. She competed this summer at the Under-19 FIBA World Cup in Hungary as a member of the U-19 National Team for her home country of Mali. This is actually her fourth stint on the national team: She played on the Under-16 team, the Under-17 team, and the Under-19 team for the first time in 2019. That year Fanta was a key contributor as Mali became the first-ever African nation quarter-finalists at FIBA’s U19 Women’s World Cup. Fanta made her mark in that contest with her assists. She had 11, blowing past the previous tournament record of 7. That accomplishment is no surprise to Cushing Coach Emily Roller. “Fanta is absolutely one of—if not the—best basketball players we have had in 20 years,” said Roller. “She's an incredibly powerful athlete, really quick, really strong. She’s got great court vision and is an outstanding defender, but the thing that makes her the best is she’s incredibly humble. There isn’t a word that comes from her that doesn’t put her teammates first. She is wildly talented and wildly humble at the same time.”

Fanta began playing basketball at 11 and stood out almost immediately. One of her early memories is being chosen as the most valuable player of her club team. Those kudos got her noticed by the coaches who oversee the national team. “It is a blessing to play for your country,” Fanta said. “This is going to be my fourth time to play for Mali and I am just happy.”

One of her favorite memories from previous national team competitions was playing against the United States team in 2018. “We lost by like, 30 points,” Fanta remembered, laughing. “It was a good game.” The style of play in the United States is more aggressive than in Mali, which means her Cushing experience is crucial to help her get ready for international competition.

For Roller, Fanta’s athletic talent is matched by her extraordinary personal qualities, including her sense of humor, which is evident in a little twinkle in her eye when she speaks. “When you think about COVID, a new language, a new community, major surgery, she hadn’t seen her family, she hadn't been home... she didn't blink. She just kept moving forward,” said Roller. “She would always just ask, ‘What’s the next thing we have to do? Coach, what’s the next thing I need to do? How do I get back?’ So she’s a really, really resilient young woman.”

Fanta plans to take that resilience a long way. She hopes that her future will include playing college basketball and studying engineering or business in the United States. Then, Fanta dreams, perhaps the WNBA.