{"id":275292,"date":"2020-06-23T17:34:54","date_gmt":"2020-06-23T20:34:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/?p=275292"},"modified":"2020-06-23T19:36:52","modified_gmt":"2020-06-23T22:36:52","slug":"brazilian-descendant-player-comes-up-in-lebanon-basketball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/brazilian-descendant-player-comes-up-in-lebanon-basketball\/","title":{"rendered":"Brazilian-descendant player comes up in Lebanon basketball"},"content":{"rendered":"

S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 The Lebanese-born Brazilian descendant Rebecca Akl is an up-and-coming player in Lebanese basketball. The daughter to a mother from Goi\u00e2nia, Brazil and a Lebanese father, she was born and currently lives in Jbeil, north of Lebanon\u2019s capital Beirut. Aged 27, she\u2019s the captain of the national team and an ambassador for We are the Hope<\/em>, an NGO charged with motivating young people \u2013 including vulnerable youths \u2013 to take up sports.<\/p>\n

Rebecca\u2019s two older brothers are also basketball players. \u201cI started playing with them when I was four, and I joined the school team when I was eight. My coaches would tell me I was really talented, so I kept working more and more,\u201d she told ANBA in an interview via messaging in English.<\/p>\n

Rebecca has been in the national team since she was 16. She made captain in 2017. \u201cI played the Asia Cup in 2009, 2011 and 2017. We also played the 2019 West Asia Championship, which we won.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Rebecca: ‘I love the Brazilian community in Lebanon. They are very family-oriented, they help one another a lot and they\u2019re full of life’<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Her work as a We are the Hope<\/em><\/a> ambassador involves helping motivate young athletes to keep playing sports. \u201cAs an ambassador, on the one hand I\u2019m trying to be an inspiration, and I work with young girls who need a little push. On the other hand, the NGO\u2019s chair will help me get the exposure I need in Lebanon and elsewhere, so I can achieve my professional goals and get the exposure I deserve in a world where attention is paid to male sports,\u201d said Rebecca.<\/p>\n

Although she has no idols or athletes she looks up to in Brazil, Rebecca says she loves the country, and that the people are really friendly. \u201cI love the Brazilian community in Lebanon. They are very family-oriented and close-knit. They help one another a lot and they\u2019re full of life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In 2001, she traveled to Bras\u00edlia, where her mother used to live, and to Rio de Janeiro, Fortaleza and Natal. It was her only time in Brazil, at age eight. She considers herself more Lebanese than she is Brazilian. \u201cBut I always introduce myself as half-Brazilian, half-Lebanese,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cRebecca has brought great joy to the \u2018Brazilebanese\u2019 community in Lebanon. Her prominence is a thrill for everyone here, especially the women. She\u2019s our pride and joy,\u201d the Brazilian-born director of Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK)\u2019s Latin American Studies and Cultures Center (LASCC) Roberto Khatlab told ANBA.<\/p>\n

Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum <\/strong><\/p>\n

Personal Archives<\/div>\n
Personal Archives<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rebecca Akl is the daughter to a Brazilian mother and a Lebanese father. She\u2019s captain of Lebanon\u2019s national women\u2019s team, and an ambassador for NGO \u2018We are the Hope,\u2019 which encourages young people to take up sports in the Arab country\t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2305,"featured_media":275284,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[114],"tags":[9586,3849,15873,15869,9534,15870,5910,15874],"class_list":{"0":"post-275292","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-lebanon-en","9":"tag-athlete","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-basquete","12":"tag-brazil-en","13":"tag-selecao-de-basquete-feminino-libano","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-womens-basketball"},"wps_subtitle":"Rebecca Akl is the daughter to a Brazilian mother and a Lebanese father. She\u2019s captain of Lebanon\u2019s national women\u2019s team, and an ambassador for NGO \u2018We are the Hope,\u2019 which encourages young people to take up sports in the Arab country\t. ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2305"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}