Sports connect people, enabling them to engage in a favorite activity together. More, in sports everyone is equal, they train and play together, and language barriers collapse because most sports do not require speaking. What do they require? Commitment to shared success, coordination, mutual trust, and inspiration. We packed all these together to create a soccer camp for Jewish and Arab children living not far from each other – in Basma and Pardes Hanna – and sent them to the field together. To train together. And to eat together. Children who had never exchanged a word with each other, who grew up in a suspicious environment and never-ending war, discovered that soccer (and youth, and Israeliness, and music, and hunger) connects well. As a mixed group, they learned each other’s styles and cooked up goals together. A pleasure!
The war with Iran disrupted our plans to fly together to Germany, so we moved the peak of activity to Givat Haviva. For four days, the children practiced and played soccer, slept together in the dorms, visited Sami Ofer Stadium, and played soccer with the Maccabi Haifa youth team. When it was too hot, we took them to a water park, and when we felt it was time to engage in education, we gathered them for dialogue and getting-to know-each-other workshops. Thank you for the trust you placed in us, children of Basma and Pardes Hanna! We hope you had fun!
