Employing Professional Athletes Is A Slam Dunk
As the 2024–2025 season winds to a close, Fyllingen Lions forward Bouna Black Ndiaye reflects on all the community excitement around the club’s rebrand, team's accolades, and a renewed outlook on social responsibility that echoed across the region. With gratitude in his heart, he is also taking time to look back on an important decision he made before the season kicked off to trade personal flexibility for a higher purpose.
This was the season he silenced the noise, turned off his phone, and tuned in fully to what truly matters: giving his time, focus, and energy to support the next generation and invest in work where he could make a significant difference.
“I’ve swapped my flexibility for responsibility,” Bouna shares candidly. “The time I once kept for being social, I now give to my community—especially our youth. This isn’t just a season of basketball for me. It’s a season of building something that lasts beyond the court.”
This mindset? It might sound familiar—because this is similar to what parenting, coaching, teaching, and team management is all about, and although Bouna is not a coach or a father himself, he has played a hands-on role in connecting with parents within the Bergen community and being a guiding light of a role model to the younger generation.
Invest in something beyond yourself
“It’s a window into what the commitment of parenting looks like within a society that has extreme challenges,” Bouna reflects. “It’s not easy considering the youth crime, drug abuse, and violence, but my decision to lean into non profit work was never about taking the easy road. It was about being of service and doing something out of the box that would impact lives. The return on investment is one of the greatest you can imagine.”
Meteva Sport og Helse understands this impact deeply. That’s why they bring athletes into this same type of commitment and opportunity. Athletes—through their discipline, visibility, and influence—have the power to shape young minds. When athletes commit to being present, to mentoring, to leading by example, they make a lasting difference.
After a career that spanned the USA, China, France, Spain, England, and Iceland, Bouna’s homecoming this season was a personal choice. Despite recovering from a serious injury the year before, he fought his way back into peak performance. With his talented team, the Fyllingen Lions, they are now in route to the playoff finals, and Bouna can look back on this season with earned Player of the Week, BLNO’s Top Scorer Of The Season honors as well as being selected to Norway’s National Team, alongside teammate Lars Mensah Espe.
The social responsibility that has been going on off the court has melted hearts throughout Bergen.
Meteva Sport og Helse and NextGen Neighbor Network
Since early 2023, Bouna has taken on a full-time administrative role at Meteva Sport og Helse, a non-profit founded by Louise Mohn. The work is about building bridges across sectors, organizing community-driven initiatives, and creating safe spaces for youth.
“There’s a cost to this kind of commitment,” Bouna admits. “You lose flexibility. But what you gain—seeing a packed sports arena and the rise of new memberships makes it all worth it.”
His dedication came to life on April 2, with the official launch of the NextGen Neighbor Network (NNN) at Tertnes Clubhouse. Role models from basketball, football, handball and gymnastics aligned in a collaboration to impact children and youth. A large turnout of parents, coaches and local leaders gathered to learn how schools, sports clubs, and cultural organizations can work together to support Bergen’s youth. The initiative, built on the Miljøplakaten framework, aims to promote safe, healthy environments by preventing snitching, bullying, violence, exclusion, and crime.
Bouna, a co-founder of NNN, is helping build what he calls “localized ecosystems of compassion.” At the event, Helena Navarsete, newly appointed Miljøarbeider, emphasized the power of combining sports and education to nurture young people. Leaders from SK Brann, Åsane Arena, Gneist, and Fyllingen Lions also participated, showing unified commitment to Bergen’s youth.
“Sportsklubben Brann has signed an Memo of Understanding (MOU) with Meteva Sport og Helse to improve the youth environment in Bergen,” said Therese Andvik Rygg, Head of Marketing, Communication and Sustainability at SK Brann. “We want the power of football to amplify this important message. We must stand together so that all children and young people in Bergen have a good environment to grow up in—across different sports.”
A Long-term Commitment
Though his current contract with Fyllingen Lions is only for this season, Bouna’s commitment to being a role model is long-term.
“Meteva Sport og Helse’s vision has clear strategic targets and goals, making it fun being part of such a professional and experienced team. This season taught me that giving your time to your local community is the most powerful investment you can make”
Louise Mohn is grateful for the employment of Bouna Black Ndiaye this season: “It’s not about being available for yourself. It’s about being available for your people. Bouna has a tremendous influence on children and youth. By teaming up and connecting with teachers, coaches and team managers, we have made significant progress within the community and made magic happen.
For Bouna Black Ndiaye, one choice at the start of the season became his greatest lesson: that true impact begins when you put others first.
