On July 4, at the sports hall of the First General Secondary School in Bolesławiec, teams representing soldiers of the 23rd Artillery Regiment and American engineers from the 91st Engineer Battalion faced each other in a sport with rich traditions in American culture—basketball.
The sporting competition was opened by the commander of the 91st Engineer Battalion, Lt. Col. Matthew Rogers, who spoke briefly about traditions associated with Independence Day before the game.
The game was very evenly matched from the start. Every successful shot or dunk by the American soldiers was followed by a counterattack from the Polish artillerymen. The ending, however, belonged to the American engineers, who won the game 86–72. (The soldiers’ sporting contest was accompanied throughout by enthusiastic cheering from the fans.)
After the game, both teams took commemorative photographs. As Maj. Jakub Wołyński, head of the Physical Education and Sports Section of the Bolesławiec regiment, acknowledges, a series of joint sporting events with American soldiers has also been planned through the end of the year, helping strengthen ties with the allies.