Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC)
Interfaith Basketball Tournament a Time to “Reach Out to Someone Different Than Yourself”
How might we create an experience that brings youth from different religious backgrounds together to share and learn from one another? From this question came the idea to use sports as the unifier for Cincinnati’s diverse faith communities. Then organizers in the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities worked together to create an interfaith high school basketball tournament.
As players took the court and the referee’s opening whistle blew one Sunday afternoon in early September, Cincinnati’s first annual Interfaith Basketball Tournament was underway. Organized by the Jewish Community Relations Council (a part of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati) and the Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati, the tournament brought together friends and families from the Islamic Center, Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy (CHCA), and Rockwern Academy for an afternoon of basketball and dialogue. What follows are reflections by students from each faith community. —Jackie
Asher Weinstein | Rockwern Academy
Asher is a senior at Indian Hill High School and submitted the following editorial, reprinted below in part, to the school’s student-run newspaper, the Chieftain.
Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to participate in an interfaith basketball tournament. It was a very casual affair, perhaps best shown by my presence on a basketball court, but such events hold particular significance in today’s polarized world. In my entire, admittedly short, life, I can’t remember a time when different populations have been so divided in this country. Paranoia, political differences, and simple fear have driven people further and further into their own ideological bubbles, to the point that we are unable to even grasp the arguments of others. I’m certainly guilty of this from time to time, and I’m sure that everyone reading this has been as well.
In such a divided time, we all need to be unifiers, but fortunately, we live in an ideal time for unification. Twitter can be a toxic wasteland of hate, outrage, and confirmation bias, but it’s also an excellent place to find people of different views and backgrounds and have earnest discussions or perhaps just listen to what they have to say. Its global prevalence lets Facebook be a conduit for compelling and useful conversations.
Whether at a basketball tournament, on social media, or just in the classroom, take some time this year to reach out to someone different than yourself. It may sound like obvious or hackneyed advice, but unless you take the time to truly make an attempt to reach out, it’s very difficult to change yourself.
Will Stiles | Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy
The entire experience was such a blast for all twelve of us that came out! We loved the positive atmosphere between players within and between the teams. I really enjoyed talking to a 3-on-3 teammate of mine from the Islamic Center about future college plans, as we both had some of the same colleges on our list of places we are going to send applications.
The staff did a very good job keeping everything running smoothly, and they were very welcoming to our team as we played. I think it was very cool to see such a diverse group come together around such a great sport to make a wonderful experience for everyone.
Shuja Ghani | Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati
The interfaith basketball event was truly interesting, as I got to meet many new people and talk to them about who they are and what their religion is. Basketball is a sport that naturally brings people together, as it is played all around the world. During the dialogue portion of the event, I talked with guys from both the Jewish community and the Christian community. It was truly amazing how one afternoon can bond teenagers from three different religious groups in just one city.
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Thanks to you, high schoolers from three different faith communities got a chance to play and talk together.
