Freeze Frame

When Geography Department chair Allan Falconer heard that Mason men’s basketball coach Jim Larranaga gave his summer camp kids geography quizzes, Falconer wondered how to mix geography facts and trivia with basketball and increase kids’ interest in the world.

Together with Coach L, Falconer developed the idea for the World Ball: an NCAA-regulation basketball that is also a globe providing a correct scale representation of the location and areas of the continents. This summer, lucky campers at Larranaga’s Boys Basketball Camp were among the first to get their hands on Mason’s World Ball.

By asking such questions as “Which continent has the most countries?” or “How many states begin with the letter ‘M’?” Larranaga teaches his campers not only how to improve their basketball game, but also how to improve their minds.

World Balls are available in the Fairfax Campus bookstore.