At the start of this month 50 coaches and community leaders from Israel visited the University of Brighton and trained alongside coaches from Jordan, Northern Ireland, the UK, Germany and Somalia.

This was part of a programme called Football 4 Peace, which the British Council supports.

Some of the participants share their thoughts and feelings about the training below.

29 March 2011

Taking part in the F4P training camp is very important to me. The Jewish and Arab communities in Israel live separately and we don’t really understand the lives, hopes and dreams of people from the other community. Having an opportunity to gain this understanding is so important for the future of our country and our children.

By improving the lives of people in the Arab community, and getting to know and understand them better, we will make Israel a better place to live.

We left very early this morning and it was a long day travelling but everything was well organised and it was good to see old friends and meet new ones when we arrived at the airport.

Arriving in Eastbourne and being greeting by our friends in the UK was a terrific experience. Eastbourne is a calm, clean, nice town and everyone is looking forward to the training programme that will start tomorrow.

It is so important to have coaches from the UK and Germany in this project. Meetings between Arabs and Jews in Israel can be stressful and orchestrated in such a way that it puts pressure on people from both sides.

Here we are part of an international group of friends working together at something we all enjoy, and we can get to know each other as people who often have a lot of interests in common.
Nassim, Beer Sheva

30 March 2011

Today has been a really exciting day.

At our first session we learned that we are part of the largest project of this kind in the world. We learned about the values they are trying to teach us through the project activities and the importance of mutual understanding and working as a team, as that is what we will be trying to teach the children.

We spent the rest of the morning like 10-year-olds, playing trust games and practicing on the football pitch. Learning about the games and activities was one thing, but actually doing them made a real impact on us – now I really understand how these activities will work with children.
Tal, Tel Aviv

This is the first time I’ve travelled anywhere so I was excited and also worried about how we would all put our political differences aside and cooperate successfully. I was surprised at the level of cooperation between us and also amazed at the professionalism and dedication of the UK and German coaches.
Abdullah, Daboriya

31 March

It was cold and rainy today. Weather we are not used to, but we went to Brighton anyway. It was great to see another town and the new stadium. We learned a lot and got a deeper understanding of the values through the activities.

I was impressed by the dedication of the coaches – many of the students working with us have classes and activities to attend, but they are volunteering to spend time with us.
Sueliman,  Bier el Maksour

I enjoyed the diversity and the flow of the training. It gave me ideas on how to work with the kids I train on the basketball team.
Dror, Kfar Tavor

1 April

Even though this project is aimed at helping the children we train in Israel, I feel that this camp has brought us adults closer together.
Emily, UK

Today we had an example of how the activities could be run if we only have a football pitch and no other facilities available. This will be useful for many of us from Israel, where some of the communities don’t have the facilities needed for both on-pitch and off-pitch activities.

It’s good to know we can manage a quality programme that teaches values even if we don’t have all of the equipment and facilities that they have here. You can tell that the trainers have been to Israel and adapted the programme to fit our needs. I think there is so much I can learn from here, not only from the activities but also about the coordination of sports programmes.
Amit, Kfar Tavor

2 April

Today we got to practice all we have learned. We did all of the planning and organisation for a festival of football for 150 kids from schools here in the UK. I was amazed at the way we were able to work together as a team. The kids enjoyed the day, played hard and learned the values!
Nael, Nazareth

I have worked with the UK and German coaches when they came to Israel in the past but never realised how challenging it is to work with kids who speak another language until today.  It really is quite different! It helps that we are working with sport, so much of the communication can be acted out.
Mahmoud, Nazareth

I am amazed how much we have learned and how much progress we have made. When we arrived we were two groups from different communities. Everyone gathered with their own, perhaps a bit hesitant to get to know the others. Today we are one team working, learning and sharing together.
Mohammed, Yafia

This project is great for kids, it is inclusive of all kids that like football, and those who are more talented can take from this the values of sports that are so important for their future careers.
Shafik, Tuba Zangria

The training itself was very good, very positive, we learned a lot. I will take this project to my community.
Aharon, Tuba Zangria