This past week PPI-CY provided 160 children from the Agios Antonios Schools in Limassol with a day of fun and learning about different sports. The Agios Antonios 4th and 18th Elementary Schools are part of the “Zone for Educational Priority” or ZEP program that PPI-CY has been working with over the last year. The kids at the Agios Antonios Schools come from the city of Limassol, and many of the families are multicultural and disadvantaged.
Climbing through the gymnastics pit.
This summer, the schools came to PPI-CY with a problem. The children of the Agios Antonios 4th and 18th schools never have a chance to interact. While the 4th school is mostly Greek-Cypriot, the 18th school is much more multicultural, with Roma children and children of mixed backgrounds. After leaving elementary school, the children go on to attend the same high school, but, because they have never met, many conflicts occur.
Two participants get dressed to demonstrate Tae Kwon Do.
So PPI – CY began organizing two large field trips where the children of the schools can come together for some positive interaction. The first was this past week, when the entire 5th and 6th grades of the school met at a giant sports center just outside the city. Once there, they were broken into groups with children from both schools, and walked to different sport stations for a 30 minute interactive preview of that particular sport.
PPI – CY got several sports federations to volunteer their mornings to entertain the kids. The sports included volleyball, squash, judo, Tae Kwon Do, weightlifting, and there was even a PeacePlayers station, where the kids played teamwork games like the human knot and follow the leader. It was a great event for all the kids and we look forward to seeing them again soon!
This past week, PPI-Northern Ireland Fellow Shannon Brown and Local Coordinator Darryl Petticrew worked with Scoutlink’s iCitizen programme to help explore the concept of diversity at Belfast’s Ulster Hall. The iCitizen programme aims to empower young people aged 11-18 by providing training on a cross-community basis with three key themes: relationship building, good relations and civic engagement.
Scoutlink's iCitizen Conference: Darryl is in the top-right corner (in front of the blue banners) leading a discussion.
The event at Ulster Hall celebrated the ending of iCitizen programme, bringing together around 100 young people to discuss community relations issues that affect their communities. It began with a dramatic dance performance representing Northern Ireland’s journey through conflict towards peace; it was a great way to kick things off! The performance was followed by a short speech by Belfast City Lord Mayor Pat Convery, who made clear that the future of Northern Ireland is in the hands of its youthand congratulated attendees for their work towards a better future for all.
The group split into rotations where they explored the issues of anti-social behaviour, community participation and diversity. Shannon and Darryl used basketball to develop participants’ understanding of diversity and how it applies to Northern Ireland. The young people took part in some great discussion, learning from each other about the region’s diversity.
To finish off each discussion, the young people were set a challenge: how can they celebrate diversity in their own communities and encourage their peers to learn about and understand cultures different from their own? Participants expressed many great ideas and we’re looking forward to seeing them put into fruition!
If you’ve been watching this space much recently, you’ve probably read about one of several recent Bar or Bat Mitzvah projects that children across the U.S. and Canada have organized to benefit PeacePlayers International.
Zac Emanuel
Today, we’d like to highlight one of the most successful such initiatives that PPI has seen to date, organized by Zac Emanuel of Providence, Rhode Island. Seeking an opportunity to combine several of his passions, Zac and his parents learned about PPI through a website called The Mitzvah Bowl, which highlights all kinds of potential Bar and Bat Mitzvah projects for socially minded young people.
Zac’s now in the process of organizing a 3-on-3 tournament in his hometown to raise funds and awareness for PPI. In preparation for the event, he set up his own fundraising page on Razoo.com, and pointed his friends and family there to give them an opportunity to support PPI’s work.
“As Golda Meir said, ‘We will have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.’ That works for both sides…It is this effort – to educate and get rid of hatred through basketball - that lead me to choose [PPI] as my Mitzvah project. Your donations will help bring these kids together to show them that fighting is not the answer. Your donations will help bring peace to these areas, perhaps now, and definitely in the future, when the kids that have experienced PeacePlayers International teach their kids.”
- Zac Emanuel, on his Razoo fundraising page
After only a few weeks, the response has been truly overwhelming. After launching just after the New Year, by January 18th Zac has raised well $4,859 for PPI! That’s a fantastic contribution, nearly enough to support one team for an entire semester – and with his tournament scheduled for the Spring, he’s not done yet.
The video Zac chose to embed on his project page.
PPI is deeply grateful to Zac, his parents, his family – which generously agreed to sign on as a “Title Sponsor” for the project – and all those who have decided to help this amazing young leader realize his vision.
We look forward to updating you again on this project as it continues to progress!
Today’s blog is written by PPI – South Africa Life Skills Coordinator Ntobeko Ngcamu and Basketball Operations Manager Mtu Zulu, reporting from Umbumbulu.
PSP and LDP participants at the end of a successful clinic.
The Umbumbulu Leadership Development Program (LDP) team held an amazing coaching clinic for area Primary School Program (PSP) participants at Tobi primary school on the 23rd October. The Saturday morning was overcast as the coaches and staff members began the clinic at 11:00. Regardless of the weather promising rain, almost 40 area youth (representative of all four PPI-SA participating schools) gathered at the Tobi Primary School basketball court, ready to have the first ever PPI-SA Umbumbulu Primary School Basketball Clinic.
PPI-SA’s Leadership Development Program (LDP) team arrived on time to register the players and set up for the day’s activities. Once all 40 PSP players were registered, the LDP players reviewed the plan of the day and made sure everyone, players and staff members, were ready.
PSP participants line up for speed and agility drills.
The day started with a famous ice-breaker, lead by Basketball Operations Manager and LDP coach Mtu Zulu and helped by other Umbumbulu coaches, Life Skills Coordinator Ntobeko Ngcamu, and coaches Sihle and Qino. Kids formed lines on the court, kicking and opening side to side. Afterwards, Ntobeko welcomed the participants, before handing the program over to the LDP players to run the clinic activities.
Kids were divided into five groups of 10 and lined up on each sideline. We started with speed and agility drills and proceeded to teach ball handling, dribbling, passing, shooting. Each skill was demonstrated, practiced, then turned into a fun competition.
To close the event we had one LDP player, Phumla Makhanya, share her involvement with PPI-SA – what were her challenges and what she has achieved, and hopes to achieve, so far. Her parents originally did not want her to join or play basketball, the reason being she was a young girl doing grade 5 and not allowed to participate in any after school activities. She asked the school principal and other teachers to plead her case to the parents. Eventually she joined the team and was happy.
Qino, a local coach, with Phumla, an LDP player who would share her experiences with the children in attendance at the end of the event.
In grade 6, however, she broke her arm and stopped playing for the entire season. She rejoined the PPI-SA family the next year and from there, she says, “She never looked back.” Her achievements in basketball include playing spots on both the District and Provincial teams. She tells the kids she would not have achieved what she has without listening to her coach in life skills, and she continues to say that the life skills learned through PPI-SA help her to face high school challenges. ”I used the knowledge I gained in PPI-SA life skills to make informed decisions, especially when receiving peer pressure from my classmates.”
Her current goals include earning a spot on the SA National team, finishing matric (Grade 12) and attending the University of Cape Town to study Sport Management.
At the end of the day, the lessons learned by the coaches were many. They learned to plan and organize an event, and learned the importance of preparation and the value of crowd control, which proved a challenging task throughout the day. Lastly, the coaches learned the value of giving clear, precise instructions to the participants.
We hope to continue hosting clinics as a medium for our coaches and players to learn more facilitation techniques, and our players to learn more about the game of basketball!
A couple weeks ago, PeacePlayers International – Northern Ireland (PPI-NI) offered a glimpse at the documentary currently being filmed and produced by former PPI-NI Program Director Will Maloney. The as-yet-untitled documentary chronicles the experiences of four PPI-NI participants at various stages of their involvement with the organization. Last installment, we featured Ronny, a ten-year-old participant from Carr’s Glen Primary School in North Belfast.
This week, we are pleased to introduce you to Darryl Petticrew, our Leadership Development Program Coordinator.Born and raised in Belfast, Darryl (or “Dazz,” as he is affectionately known) provides the PPI-NI office with his perspectives as both a Belfast native and a sports studies expert. Watch the video below to learn more about Darryl and his facilitation of the Leadership Development Program’s upcoming weekend residential workshop.
The Kulanikahle Children's Home, an orphanage in Molweni, and the site of the Molweni LDP's latest community service project.
PPI Fellow Taylor Brown recently accompanied our Leadership Development Program players in Molwenion a social action project. The Leadership Development Program trains our teen participants to be mentors for younger players and the future leaders of PPI. He describes the trip below.
On Wednesday, October 27th, the Molweni Leadership Development Program Team visited Kulanikahle Children’s Home, just a five minute walk down the road from where the team practices three days a week. The Kulanikahle Children’s Home is an orphanage that hosts over 30 children whose parents are unable to care for them. Earlier in the semester, during the Molweni LDP’s first Life Skills session, the team as a group decided that they wanted to do their community outreach project at the orphanage in order to give back to those less fortunate, including some at Kulanikahle who are the same age as the LDP players themselves.
The ladies of the Molweni LDP with their new friends at the Kulanikahle Children’s Home.
We showed up at the orphanage without a clear idea of what we would be doing, but the LDP jumped right in, showed initiative, and got to work. This included weeding, washing clothes, cleaning rooms, removing rubbish, and other tasks. However, in my opinion, the most important thing about the day was the LDP participants showing individual interest in each orphan and making sure to include them in each of their activities.
Sbusiso Mkhize, the Molweni LDP’s coach, had the following to say about his team’s community project, “I was really proud of our team. They organized this project from start to finish and it was a great way to finish the Life Skills portion of our semester. We’ll definitely be back to Kulanikahle.”
A huge thank you goes out to Kulanikahle Children’s Home for having the Molweni LDP Team on-site. We look forward to continuing our relationship in semesters to come!
Thanks to Kulanikahle for hosting. We'll be back soon!
Primary School children line the court during the LDP's recent community clinic.
One of the goals of PPI – South Africa’s Leadership Development Program, which serves young people between the ages 14 and 18, is to train participants to serve and assist their respective communities. Recently, many of our areas decided the best way to do this would be by hosting a two hour clinic at our community court in Lamontville for PPI – SA’s younger players, members of the Primary School program, which serves children as young as 10 years old.
The LDP players serve not only as occasional coaches, but also mentors for Primary School players.
On a gray Friday afternoon, 14 LDP players became coaches for a day. Under the guidance of our regular coaches, the players ran their clinic without a hitch, as 100 Primary School children rotated up and down the court through three stations, featuring shooting, defense, and passing. The day ended with a raucous, four-team game of “Pass Forward”, which ended with every squad in a four way tie.
Afterward, the LDP players said they were surprised at just how hard it was to coach the youth. The most frustrating part was that they couldn’t understand why players didn’t always immediately process seemingly obvious instructions. One player said, “I learned that I could not just say, ‘Do this. Stand there and move.’ When explaining shooting, I had to demonstrate BEEF (Balance, Eyes, Elbow, Follow-through) for the younger kids to understand me. I had no idea the patience a coach has to have.”
An LDP player helping a participant into the right defensive position.
Music to our ears! Not only did the LDP team win points for a successful community service project – they planned the entire event on their own, from transportation logistics to drills to overall structure and design – they also learned how to teach effectively, to be patient yet energetic, as they taught the basics of basketball. I couldn’t help but smile as I saw our young leaders positioning players’ hands in the right defensive or shooting position, or stressing the points that we continually stress in our own practices, like always saying the names of players before passing to them.
Our LDP players gained courage and confidence in their own ability to play as they taught their younger counterparts. They also grabbed the attention of the community, as residents peered outside their homes to the quite unusual sight of some 100 players playing organized basketball. Furthermore, we introduced our youngest children to the next step in the PPI-SA program. We hope that after graduating Grade 8, these players will also join the LDP, leaving it teeming with leaders like our current LDP.
All our Primary School girls came ready to play - shoes or not.
PPI - NI's Community Centre League brings together children from throughout Belfast.
PeacePlayers International – Northern Ireland has many great programs: one of the most successful of these has been our Community Centre League (CCL). This program is designed for young people ages 11-15 and allows for participants from community centers across Belfast to spend Wednesday nights ballin’ it up with PeacePlayers International, both on the court and in guided community relations sessions.
Joanne (center) spoke to Michaela to learn more about what it's like to participate in the CCL.
CCL has recently finished what was a very successful semester, highlighted by great improvements in both the skills and the attitudes of our participants. Our older players demonstrated fantastic leadership skills with some of our newer members – in some cases, even adopting a ‘mini-me.’ Veteran players like Michaela, Nicole, and Lauren truly mentored rookies like Amy-Lee, Kasie and Johna. The older girls provided guidance during community relations discussions and made sure the younger girls were included in all aspects of the basketball training sessions.
To celebrate the completion of CCL, Whiterock Community Centre hosted a party for all of the programme participants. Music was supplied by our own DJ Kyla, buns were decorated by chefs Lauren and Shannon, and balloons were burst by all the boys. Participants were each presented with a certificate of CCL completion and a pair of basketball shorts; the top three teams received a limited edition PeacePlayers jersey donated by Scotty’s Sport Shop of Wellington, Florida (via the Aunt and Uncle of PeacePlayers International Fellow Meghan Houlihan).
Michaela writes a goodbye message on the shirt of another CCL participant, Amy-Lee.
Joanne Fitzpatrick, PPI – NI’s Coach Training and Engagement Coordinator, sought to highlight some of the positive experiences of CCL through the eyes of a programme participant. She asked Michaela, a local fifteen-year-old and avid participant of CCL, to describe her experience during the ten-week programme:
Joanne Fitzpatrick: Tell us, Michaela, exactly how long have you been involved in CCL? Michaela: Four years now.
JF: How did you get involved with PeacePlayers and CCL? Michaela: My Uncle Sean told me about it and asked me if I wanted to go; I thought I’d give it a go.
JF: How would you describe your experiences with CCL? Michaela: It’s amazing, to be perfectly honest. We all get a bus together to the school, doing warm-ups first and then getting together with our teams. Then, we play a few matches and do some community relations.
JF: What’s been your favourite discussion in community relations this term? Michaela: “The one about the peace walls. I didn’t know much about them, even though I see them all the time- it was really interesting. We learnt where they were, how many there are and how they are separating people from each other.”
JF: What’s been your favourite moment with PeacePlayers so far? Michaela: Two things: 1) Getting into the finals of Spring Jam; and 2.)Having my team coming in first place in CCL.
JF: How do you want to remain a part of PeacePlayers in the future? Michaela: I want to play more basketball, attend the Leadership Development Programme’s residentials and I really want to become a PeacePlayers coach, too.
A huge thank you to everyone involved in CCL this term, including community leaders Lorraine, Sean, Gerard, Topper, Sally, Roseanne, Helen, Tommy, and Tina. Thank you to Belfast Bus Company for the transportation of the programme participants, Artimas for renting us a location, and to Ashfield Girls High School and Girls Model High School for providing a safe space to host CCL. To our coaches – Shaun, Kirsty, William, Dean, Laura, Shannon, Meghan, Will, Ellen and Darryl: none of this could have happened without you- thank you! We look forward to seeing all of you next term!
Want to learn more about CCL? Watch this video, with interviews from participants Lauren and Justin:
Amir, a teenage boy from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Safafa, has been engaged with PPI in the Middle East for three years, growing both personally and as an athlete. He has developed outstanding leadership skills and now serves on the Leadership Development Program (LDP), a mixed group of Arab and Jewish youth that play basketball together on a highly competitive level and take part in community service projects. We asked Amir to describe PPI – ME’s impact on him thus far [Amir's entry has been edited for clarity and brevity].
According to Amir, in the center of this photo, "basketball changed my life in ways I could not imagine."
Basketball has changed my life in ways that I could not imagine…A few years ago, my life was dramatically different from what it is today. I did not care about anything; my friends and I used to play in the streets and get into trouble….
Amir working to improve his game on the court...
Basketball did not change my life overnight. At first when PeacePlayers appeared in the neighbourhood, it was something different to do; it provided an alternative. The practices gave me a structure and an outlet, where I began to gain confidence because I felt good about what I was doing with basketball. I made new friends who I communicate well with. We all love basketball and we communicate through the game, regardless of whether my teammates are Palestinians from our village, Jewish kids or Americans. My coach, Samer, encouraged me to stay away from bad people. He showed me that the people I was hanging out with did not have a future; he encouraged me to do my homework and focus in school; he taught me that I have to take control of my life.
...and serving others off it, here helping with PPI - ME's Jerusalem Peace League.
In basketball, I used to be a ball hog. With PPI, I learned how to pass, to cooperate, to work as a team to share the court – and to become a better player. The curriculum we learned on the basketball court helped me to see all people as human beings, and how working and communicating with others can make me a better person and a better player, and all of us a better team. I am also in better shape…..I run better now that I do not smoke, and I spend more time at home with my family.
It was really more than one year ago that was the turning point – when basketball transformed my life. My coach helped me understand that if I wanted a future on or off the court, I would have to really take control of my life. I became more committed to basketball, and I decided that I need to give back to the kids in my village so that they do not head down the same road I used to be on.
Amir, passing on what he's learned.
For the past year, I have been volunteering as an assistant coach for the young girls in my village once a week as part of PeacePlayers’ Leadership Development Program. One day recently, my old friends asked me to meet them. The girls went on a bowling field trip that day….but this time I gave in and decided to hang out with my old friends. That day ended badly. Two of my friend’s were hurt badly in a fight. I realized that it could have easily been me that got hurt, and that spending time with the PeacePlayers girls could have possibly saved my life.
Over the past few months, my coach assigned me to lead the girls in the Jerusalem Girls’ League. They have been winning game after game. Seeing the smiles on their faces, and the satisfaction that PeacePlayers has brought to their lives has been greatest reward of all.
