It’s only been three weeks since a team of children in Grades 1 and 2 from Beit Safafa visited their counterparts from The Keshet School at the Keshet School Court. Last Friday saw the children of Keshet go on a bus for a short ride to the Hand in Hand school gym, on the border of the neighborhoods Pat and Beit Safafa in southern Jerusalem.
Hot Feet: The first steps in learning defense.
It is incredible seeing how quickly the barriers lift when one turns a stranger into a friend. In the time between their first twinning and this week’s activity, children on both teams inquired relentlessly when they would meet their new friends again.
Only less than a month ago these children voiced concerns about meeting children from the ‘other’ neighborhood. In the first practice together, the children kept at first to each side of the court. Now they mixed from the beginning. Surely communication is difficult since they speak different languages, but this can be overcome by hand and ball gestures that invite the children around to play.
Pass 'n ' Shoot
Practice was led by David Lasday and his fellow coaches from Bring It In – Israel. A total of six coaches gave the children an hour filled with up-tempo drills, non-stop jumping and various games. They taught the big group of children – some 25 boys and girls – to bend their knees, spread their hands and anticipate their opponent in defense. They ran a pass ‘n’ shoot drill that turned into a competition between 4 teams, each one with both Jewish children from Keshet and Arab children from Beit Safafa. When a team won, cheers, smiles and high-fives were exchanged all around. It did not matter who came from where.
David Lasday and His Bring It In - Israel Fellows
From beginning to end all the children wore specially made t-shirts bearing the name of the Bellacita Trust. The Bellacita Trust is a main sponsor of the Keshet and Beit Safafa Minis program, and they make these important events possible. We sincerely thank them for their contributions.
At the end of practice, the children lined up to receive their own basketballs to take home. After they huddled and called “WE ARE PEACEPLAYERS!” They played for a few more minutes with their basketballs, passing them around with their new friends.
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