PeacePlayers 2023 Impact Report 5 18 (5) - Flipbook - Page 55
— PEACEPLAYERS ANNUAL IMPACT REPORT —
WHAT’S THE IMPACT OF BASKETBALL IN ALL OF THIS?
Onyeka: Obviously sports improve physical health, and then there
are also many mental health benefits. Sports, a lot of the time, can be
a safe haven for kids. But if basketball is an escape for participants,
we want them to walk away with tools that allow them to not
necessarily always have to just run away from how they’re feeling,
but to actually be able to address and manage what’s going on. So
that’s something that PeacePlayers does really well.
You know, through playing basketball, you can meet people you
otherwise never would have met. I've made so many connections
playing, and now coaching basketball, that have continued to serve
me in school and professionally. I never saw this path for myself,
but basketball brought me here. PeacePlayers helped bring me
here. So, it's going to be amazing to see where all the young
PeacePlayers go, and all the doors that open up for them, largely
because they participated in our program.
Alesha: I have always said that the basketball court is a classroom. You learn so many life lessons
from the game that go beyond the game. I still lean on the life lessons that basketball has taught me.
My hope is that as the court is seen as a therapeutic space where young people can find refuge, I also
hope that they also tap into the life lessons that basketball provides. I hope that when they finally
decide to put their sneakers up for good, that they choose to pay the game back by finding their own
way to pour into the next generation. That’s the real impact.
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