Ben Aronin's Blog
Peace Players / Apr 14, 09:56 AM
Saturday, after several months of corresponding, and several years after first finding out about peace players I was able to attend an open court. This is one of the first open courts in not just this city, but in the entire country.
Peace Players is using basketball to help people improve their lives. In Africa the program is combined with an AIDS awareness and prevention program. In Ireland Protestants and Catholics are put on the same teams, and they learn to interact and play together. In Israel Jews and Muslims are put on the same teams. I really love the idea that when two people who hate each other are put on the same team as kids (10-14 years old) it makes it much tougher to hate those people as adults.
This year they started a domestic program in the city where God placed me, while showing them a hope for a future focus on my neighborhood! Needless to say I’ve spoken several times to the two guys that are running the city, and the more I speak to them about who they are, what they’re doing, what they’re hoping to see, and hear their vision the more excited I get.
In New Orleans basketball will be combined with life skills, positive male role models (mostly coaches), and violence prevention. All of the coaches are going through a program sponsored by the Positive Coaching Alliance. Not only is the program focused on the children attending the program, but it is also focused on improving the leadership potential of the young men running drills.
Please keep this program, and my involvement with it in your prayers. Summer is coming up very quickly, and school gets out. Showing people the Love Christ has for them while playing basketball is one of my life’s greatest passions. Please also pray that I’m able to learn a lot as I stand on the shoulders of giants.
I’m very excited to be involved in any way with this program, and even more excited as I see more of their vision. This last week we brought 6 children from the neighborhood, and already this week three more asked me to get them picked up. I never would have expected to be able to spend time around the children that I’ve built relationships with while getting my eyes opened to new ways to do something I love.
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