Coming to America

Five-Star Sports and Entertainment Academy in East Rockaway, home to a number of successful sports teams, recently hosted two coaches and 10 athletes from Namibia who have been training — as well as shopping, dining and attending Yankees games — in New York.

“Our facility in Swakopmund, Namibia, is just a third of this room,” said Dongina Risser, the group’s leader and the founder of the Dongina Risser Gymnastics Foundation, as she looked around the expansive 25,000-square-foot facility just off Ocean Avenue. “We have from tots up to teenagers, but we have limited space. They need to be able to practice, to do repetitive work.”

Risser, who is chaperoning the group along with another coach, Monika Gibbons, and an assistant coach, Niki Calderon, explained that Namibia, which is about twice the size of Germany, has a population of roughly 2 million, many of whom have migrated from rural areas to towns to find work in uranium mines. “We want the children to have a proper education,” she said. “We want these disadvantaged kids to have chances, too.”

Risser’s organization takes in children from the poorer areas of the country and trains them in gymnastics, Lane Clark, Five Star’s director, explained.

Looking to expand the program’s ability to serve those in need, the foundation is currently involved in efforts to raise 2 million Namibian dollars — roughly $285,000 — to build a sports facility encompassing all of the programs offered here at Five-Star. “Once completed, we have committed to sending over coaches and trainers to assist with the effort of maintaining the facility and program offerings,” Clark said.

Risser said that $450 will cover school, gymnastics and three competition fees for an athlete for a year.

The students have been living with Five-Star staff and students. The training is intense, Clark said, and living with host families adds to the excitement. Team families have opened their homes to welcome their guests. On their days off, the Namibians have ventured into Manhattan, to Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey and elsewhere. Asked what they liked the most, many of the girls replied in unison, “The pizza!” and “The shopping malls!”