PORT WASHINGTON, NY — A team of Israeli basketball players visited the Port Washington School District on Tuesday.
The event underscored the powerful impact of sport and how basketball can connect teenagers from different parts of the world with vastly different backgrounds, district officials said.
“In these turbulent and polarized times around the world, it’s important to see firsthand the joy of coming together as a community to support young adults who have experienced trauma in ways we can never conceive,” schools Superintendent Michael Hynes told Patch. “This meant the world to our students and their families, to be able to host students from Israel. When asked what they’ve missed in their lives prior to October 7th, their response was ‘to be able to play basketball as a team again’.”
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The Hapoel Eshkol team’s visit to Paul D. Schreiber High School was due to the collaborative effort of the UJA-Federation of New York and Project 24. Project 24 is a social impact initiative focused on mutual support and healing, thereby strengthening both Israel and the Jewish community globally.
Learning about the immense challenges the Israeli team has faced allowed Schreiber students to expand their own learning and make real connections, both far more important than the final score, district officials said.
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