The Shaq show came to Havana on Sunday as NBA great Shaquille O'Neal put on a basketball clinic for local youngsters, becoming the latest emissary for American outreach to the people of Cuba. The 2016 Hall of Fame inductee and four-time NBA champion led star-struck kids in layup drills and coached scrimmages while onlookers cheered from the sidelines, part of a U.S. State Department-sponsored visit to foster people-to-people exchanges with Cuban citizens.

Call it the return of basketball diplomacy. The State Department on Friday named hoops legend Shaquille O’Neal the first ever “Sports Envoy to Cuba” and said he’d visit Havana on Saturday to hold basketball clinics for the island nation’s youth. The trip is a part of the Obama administration’s broader effort to increase cultural exchanges between Washington and Cuba after the two nations restored diplomatic ties last year for the first time in five decades.

Rwandan coaches are going to see what youth coaching in Park City is all about during a 10-day cultural exchange hosted by Kids Play International (KPI), a charity that uses sport to promote gender equity in communities impacted by genocide. From June 16-26, eight of Kids Play International's Rwandan coaches will be in town to discuss gender equality in youth sports and coaching techniques used in the U.S. in an event sponsored by the Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Muhammad Ali, the American three-time world heavyweight boxing champion, whose death at the age of 74 was announced by his family on Saturday, will be remembered as a superstar in the ring – but also as cultural icon who touched the hearts of people around the world – including China. Ali made two important visits to the mainland during this lifetime, which effectively helped to end the Communist Party’s two-decade-long ban on the sport of boxing.

Ten refugee athletes will act as a symbol of hope for refugees worldwide and bring global attention to the magnitude of the refugee crisis when they take part in the Olympic Games Rio 2016 this summer. The athletes will compete for the Refugee Olympic Team (ROT) – the first of its kind – and march with the Olympic flag immediately before host nation Brazil at the Opening Ceremony. 

When Duke head coach Robbie Church found out via email in late March that his team had been invited to Beijing for the seventh annual Consultation on People-to-People Exchange, he was not sure the Blue Devils would be able to participate. [...] But with the opportunity to be the first college women's soccer program involved in the conference—which brings political representatives from both countries together—Church quickly realized the chance was too unique to pass up.