This spring the Jewish-Arab Centre for Peace at Givat Haviva is launching an innovative new project for coexistence Coaching for Tolerance, training sports coaches as a tool for empowerment of youth. Sessions will be held both at the Academic Sports College of the Wingate Institute and in Sakhnin, the program will include two study tours and a three-day intensive seminar at the Givat Haviva campus. This initiative is sponsored by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.
Sports is a field which draws youth of all ages, backgrounds, ethnicities and nationalities. Sport is often a source of expression for violence and racism. However, it can become a bridge between youth, a common field of endeavor in which they discover that the similarities between them far outweigh the differences, and learn to cooperate in order to achieve mutual goals.
For the youth participating, sports coaches are amongst the most significant figures in their lives. Coaches are not always conscious of the depth of their influence, and lack the tools to translate their influence into activity that will enhance tolerance and mutual respect. The messages that the coaches impart have a profound influence on the behavior, outlook and world view of the youth they coach.
Shachar Yanai, Director of Education, says “being a tennis player and a tennis coach myself, I am personally acquainted with the influence the coach has in many realms of the life of the youth he comes into contact with. I believe that understanding this influence could help the coaches channel their educational efforts towards values that are important not only in sports but also for creating a strong and tolerant democratic society.”
The program will deal with training the coaches, developing awareness of their influence, providing tools for values education via sports, understanding the psychological and social needs of the youth they work with, creating an atmosphere of regional cooperation between Jewish and Arab sports teams, creating joint Arab-Jewish teams, developing sports amongst women, and planning projects for the long term. Course sessions will consist of workshops moderated by two professional facilitators, Jewish and Arab, as well as professional lectures by experts in their respective fields.
