Reuters
Using sport to connect with the people has long been used by politicians in years gone by. But for US President Barack Obama, you somehow sense he has a real passion for sport of various genres.
Basketball especially, runs deep in the blood of the U.S. President who is due in Singapore this week for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. A member of his school's state championship team in 1979, he never shy from a friendly game these days, often taking time off to show his craft on the court with both Senators and even more regularly, his Secret Service agents.
Those basketball games have not gone by without raising a few eyebrows though. The White House is now being accused of being a 'frat house' (college dude culture) and possibly alienating the female contingent in American politics.
You can't win them all.
"Basketball connects up with the African American experience in a special way," he told Bryant Gumbel in 2008. "Almost in the same way that jazz music connects up with African American culture. There's an aspect of improvisation within a discipline that I find very, very powerful.
"Any time I fell down, everyone went, 'Ooh,' " he added. "Here's the fact of the matter. I probably should not break my nose on the basketball court, I've done that once. I've lost a tooth."
His keen enthusiasm for sport extends beyond basketball, with golf one of his other passions and Obama is also known to be a fan of English Premiership club West Ham United. He has also been pictured board surfing by the beach, which is really, not quite the usual fanfare of most politicians.
In fact, Obama and his wife Michelle have personally rallied for Chicago to host the 2016 Olympics recently, which went to eventual victors Brazil.
In this special gallery by MSN Sports Singapore, you'll find the first African American President welcoming various championship teams to the White House and even sipping a beer watching his favourite sport, basketball.
He may have his critics on the political front but at MSN Sports Singapore, anyone who adores sport is a brother in arms.
