PPI – ME is steadfast in its mission to unite, educate and inspire young people in divided communities through basketball.
Our Twinning Basketball Club has been bridging divides between Palestinian and Israeli participants for the last seven years. For those of you who need a bit of a PeacePlayers International translation, Twinnings are a set of basketball drills and games based on PPI – ME’s groundbreaking hands-on curriculum with an emphases on life, leadership and basketball skills, peace education, and the principles of good sportsmanship. In more simplistic terms – Twinnings are a way, during very turbulent times, to use sport among Palestinian and Israeli children as a means to play WITH each other rather than AGAINST each other. This last week, we had a full roster of events with SEVEN Twinnings, bringing together nearly 100 Palestinian and Israeli participants for friendly, albeit competitive, basketball drills and games.
Here are a few cool stories from the past week:
Twenty-one Arab and Jewish teenage girls from Jaffa played in a friendly scrimmage at the B’nai Brith Community Center, capped off with a fun and festive pizza party. The girls had a great time using their basketball skills developed over the last year, and have already started preparing for their next Twinning!
Last Friday, seventeen Palestinian and Israeli youngsters from Kiryat Anavim and Ein Raffa, came together for their weekly “Twinning”. PPI – ME’s American Trainer, Edneisha Curry, worked in tandem with an Arab and Israeli coach which, together, led the girls through cooperative drills and games. As mentioned above, the drills are designed to enhance communication and teamwork. Participants were ages six to eight, representing PPI – ME’s youngest participants!
Also on Friday, fifteen girls, ages 11 – 13, from Beit Safafa and Mate Yehuda, came together for their biweekly “Twinning”. The Palestinian and Israeli girls started out the twinning with educational basketball drills designed to break preconceived stereotypes of each other’s communities. They were then placed on mixed teams, and strutted their stuff on the basketball court!
We look forward to more fun-filled, barrier-breaking events in the coming weeks as we enter our last months of the programmatic year!!!
