Sonia Koziol, competing in Basketball Ireland's Summer Jam final
Sport has always been a great way of bringing people together. Just ask Sonia Koziol. She moved to Ireland three years ago from Wadowice in Poland - "where Pope John Paul II was from" - and tomorrow she competes in the senior final of Basketball Ireland's Summer Jam. Organised in conjunction with the National Action Plan Against Racism, the competition is promoting racial integration through sport - each three-person team has to include the holder of a non-Irish passport.
This weekend's final features the top two teams from events that have been held around the country since mid-July. Adding to the spirit of cultural variety will be multicultural food and even two NBA players, 2.1m (6ft 11in) centre Calvin Booth and 1.98m (6ft 6in) shooting guard Roger Mason jnr of the Washington Wizards, holding a skills session with the young players.
Koziol comes from a sports-mad family. Her brother is a defender with top-flight Polish soccer team Groclin, and Koziol played basketball in her late teens while living in Wadowice. The 23-year-old, who works as a nail technician and beautician at Arnotts in Dublin, plays for Maol Og, a Clondalkin-based division-one team. Her boyfriend, who is also Polish and works in Arnotts, will be playing with her in the Summer Jam finals. A word of warning to their opposition: he's two-metres (6ft 7in) tall and is a forward with men's superleague squad Killester.
Koziol can vouch for the ability of sport to help people from different cultures to integrate in Irish society. "I found it very easy to make new friends being involved in basketball. There are 20 girls on the Maol Og team, so it's brilliant. I hardly spoke any English when I came to Ireland, so it's great fun to hear the rules of basketball in a different language."
Having come to Ireland initially to visit her brother, who also works here, she now plans to stay. "I visit my country from time to time, but I love it here. Everything I need is here: my job, my friends, my basketball, my boyfriend. Why would I leave?"
The Summer Jam final is at the National Basketball Arena, Tallaght, today and tomorrow - www.basketballireland.ie