PeacePlayers International-Cyprus: Spring Basketball Tournament Unites Children
On May 3rd, PPI – Cyprus held its spring basketball tournament for over 150 children. Kids from 8 to 17 years old competed during the day on mixed teams with participants from both the Turkish-Cypriot and Greek-Cypriot communities, while parents and family members cheered from the sidelines. United States Ambassador, John Koenig, tweeted live from the event.
PeacePlayers International-Middle East: PPI Jerusalem All Stars Win Championship
On May 1, PPI's Under 18 Girls Team made history by winning the Israeli National League Championship for the Southern Division on a last second shot. Our team, comprised of Palestinians and Israelis, is the first ever mixed group from Jerusalem to compete in the National League. ESPN’s Chad Ford tweeted live from the game. You can watch the thrilling final seventeen seconds of the game here:
PeacePlayers International-Northern Ireland: Junior Champions 4 Peace - Developing Leaders
The Champions 4 Peace-Juniors (C4P-Jrs) program continues to thrive, growing in number and gaining representatives from all areas of Belfast. Earlier this year, participants were invited by ESPY winner Dave Cullen to attend a game in Andersonstown between the New York City Jaguars and the Ulster Elks. Prior to the game, C4P-Jrs took part in a Leadership Training class where they learned effective leadership skills and played games where each participant's leadership style shone through. They then took their seats courtside where players from the NYC Jaguars handed the C4P-Jrs t-shirts during their warm-ups. The C4P-Jrs cheered on both teams throughout the nail-biting game, and afterwards, the Jaguars took time to take pictures and sign autographs for their newest fans.
PeacePlayers International-South Africa: SA is Underway!
Twenty-nine PPI-South Africa teams registered to participate in the Primary School Programme (PSP) which began earlier this year. PSP focuses on teaching its participants basketball fundamentals as well as character-building traits such as self-confidence, self-discipline, and goal-setting. The Leadership Development Programme (LDP) for high school students also re-launched with this season. LDP encourages its participants to set a positive example for their communities and to lead healthy lives.
Ethiopia: PPI Helps Create Soccer League for Orphans
In April, PPI traveled to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for the second time in 6 months to train 23 Ethiopian coaches from World Wide Orphans to become positive youth coaches and mentors. PPI and WWO developed a youth soccer league for over 400 kids focused on working with orphans and vulnerable children. Moving forward the program will continue to grow with the long-term goal of an All-Star team that could play and compete in the local youth soccer league.
Portland, Oregon: Peace and Respect on the Court
From January through March, PPI and AC Portland launched a youth basketball league based on PPI’s Anatomy of Peace methodology and the Portland Trail Blazers award winning anti-bullying Respect Campaign. Trainings were held for boys and girls at Cesar Chavez and Oliver Elementary, with a three-year expansion plan to grow into a network of 16 teams. “This is a significant moment for AC Portland. Typically our students participate in soccer for 10 weeks in the fall and 10 weeks in the spring…Having a basketball program will allow our students to remain active for 30 weeks a year,” said AC Portland’s Executive Director, Ben Dudley. In July, PPI’s Organizational Learning Specialist, Gunnar Hagstrom, will educate local Program Coordinators on how to train their coaches in the Anatomy of Peace, with an additional follow up training in November.
