PeacePlayers are uniting police and the community in Baltimore
Previous Beyond Sport Award Winners PeacePlayers International are using basketball to unite the police and local community in Baltimore's Park Heights. Last week, the program celebrated Martin Luther King Day with an "equality through sport" initiative that brought a huge number of new students to the court.
PeacePlayers launched in Baltimore last summer with a camp at KIPP Ujima Village Academy, the project now offers programs four days a week in Park Heights, at the community center and at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary/Middle School.
Joseph Bannerman, one of the coaches, works as a detective for the Baltimore City Police Department. He not only helps elementary and middle school students hone their basketball skills but also off the court, he acts as a mentor, along with about 15 other city officers who help out during police shifts or on their own time.
Last week, the after-school program celebrated “equality through sport,” in honor of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend with a skills clinic at Langston Hughes Community Center. Dressed in black T-shirts that read “equality,” students filled the community center’s gym, lining up to make bank shots, pass to teammates and dribble two balls at once around cones.
“The kids do more for me than I do for them. They bring me joy,” Bannerman said. “I love being able to give back to these kids. Whatever they need, I want to be there for them. … It’s not just about the basketball. It’s about building a relationship with the kids.”
The organization began in 2000 in South Africa, founded by Silver Spring resident Brendan Tuohey and his brother, Sean Tuohey, after Sean Tuohey played professional basketball in Northern Ireland and saw how clinics he ran helped Protestant and Catholic children in Belfast come together.
The program has expanded to Northern Ireland, Israel, the West Bank and Cyprus. Last year, the group formed a partnership with Nike, focusing on changing perceptions and developing youth leaders, and expanding to Baltimore, Detroit and Brooklyn, N.Y. The group chose to locate in Park Heights, where more than half of children live below the poverty line and tensions have flared between city residents and police.
Monique Lambert, 14, had never played basketball before starting eighth grade last fall at Dr. Martin Luther King. But she became curious when she started seeing a PeacePlayers coach in the school cafeteria. He encouraged her to try the sport. She found out not only that she enjoyed it, but that she had untapped leadership skills. Now she is captain of the school’s girls basketball team. She credits her regular attendance at PeacePlayers.