PeacePlayers South Africa Storybook FINAL - Flipbook - Page 33
it was a mixed group of black, white, and coloured people. Ryan noticed that he stopped
seeing skin colour (race upon first meeting people but rather the connections he’d make
with them on the basketball court. Ryan’s old friends saw black versus white versus
coloured, while Ryan simply saw a sport that connected people.
Ryan attended Technikon Natal (now Durban University of Technology. At age 19 in 2000,
he met Sean Tuohey, at a neighboring school, the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Ryan
recalls Sean rock climbing on a wall when they had their first exchange. He says Sean was
“absolutely crazy and one of the freest and most adventurous people I’d ever met.” Once
they realised their shared love of basketball, Sean invited Ryan to a basketball tournament
at Durban High School.
After attending the tournament, Ryan immediately believed in what Playing for Peace
was attempting to achieve and was on board. He went on to work with the organisation
for over 15 years. In his early years, he worked closely with Sean to build the programme
structure. When the organisation was molding itself, it didn’t have formal titles and roles.
As the organisation formalized, he became the head of Coaches & Training and then
the Programme Director. Shortly thereafter, he received an offer to be a Fellow and
Program Director in Northern Ireland. A few years later, Ryan returned to South Africa on
the marketing side and later became the Executive Director.
As Ryan reflects on his early stages with the original team, he says that one of his proudest
moments was when he sat down with Thibault & Sean. He proposed the added value of
introducing a high school programme in addition to their core primary school programme.
They ultimately agreed, and this was a pivotal expansion moment.
During his Playing for Peace journey, he often flew to the United States for coach training.
The one time he traveled outside the country for something other than basketball was
to Brazil for Thibault's wedding. Ryan views Thibault as “another co-founder of Playing
for Peace”, since he was around from the beginning. Ryan believes Thibault “brought a
level of maturity, emotional intelligence, and a business mindset.”
PEACEPLAYERS SOUTH AFRICA STORYBOOK
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