All quiet on the eastern front

The sun was beating down and the expansive complex of football and basketball courts was nearly empty except for those playing. Normally there are people filling the spaces in between courts, kicking stray balls around or practicing their dribbling, waiting for a court to open up or just hanging around. Not the case this Sunday.

Again, GAM3 saw a drop in attendance. For the third week in a row militants battled the Lebanese army in the north, and final exam season was in full swing at the local elementary and secondary schools. The heat, fear of an escalation in violence and testing kept over half the regulars at home this week. Big Mohammed called three of the teenage guys who usually come. Only one answered. Luckily, he came.

Unfortunately, only three of 10 the teenage guys showed up, so Big Mohammed didn’t run any drills. We stood on the sidelines while he let them play a game of three-on-three with some other guys who were at the court. They were drenched in sweat by 10:30, but had a good time.

“It’s really disgusting,” Big Mohammed said of the situation keeping people away. “We started with 50 people who where coming for two months. We were having a really good time here.”

The number of younger boys was also on the low end.

“Some of our boys here are from Burj al Barajneh. Because of the situation in the camp their parents might be afraid to let them leave,” he said. “It’s a really bad situation and their parents might be afraid.”

Like everyone, he hopes things will end quickly and peacefully.

There were enough of the youngest girls to arrange a small, half-court game. They were fun to watch because they could barely toss the ball high enough to get close to the net. It’s funny to see little kids putting all their weight and muscle into something you think of as simple.

The older girls got a few dribbling drills. They’re looking good. The girls had great control, and the drill didn’t turn into the frenzy of stray balls bouncing around they way drills did earlier in the season. They practiced dribbling from behind the net as they ran to the free-throw line and then switched to two bounces with the left hand and a pass for two bounces with the right. But, you can tell they’re not 100% comfortable. Their movements are still a bit stiff and awkward.

When the coaches blew the whistle at the end of the hour and a half, the courts quickly cleared and Qas Qas was even emptier.

Mac talked with Mohammed about sending SMS messages to all the older guys with mobiles. Not just the regulars, everyone on the list, he said.

“Next year, I think we’ll start a little earlier,” he told me, to avoid the final exams and the heat. He said starting earlier in March might help, but it’s the end of winter, a very rainy time in Beirut. The courts, with less than perfectly flat surfaces, are really best when they’re dry.

“The key is to get in between the rain and the heat,” Mac said.

Half the kids, Interview with Abed Al-Rahamam

When I arrived to the Qas Qas courts a little before nine o'clock it was already quite apparent that we were gonna' be missing some GAM3 participants due to the ongoing political situation here in Lebanon. In fact, by mid-practice it looked as if the attendance had been halved. We had taken a hit across the board and were lacking in all age groups, both male and female, not exactly a welcome sight.

None-the-less, we got things going by shooing away the group of football players who occasionally mistake the basketball court for a soccer field and got the drills under way. Since Rabiah hadn't yet arrived, Big Mohammed began by having the older boys dribble along the out-of-bounds line around the perimeter of the full court. Soon afterwards, Mac got the call that Coach Rabiah had been in a car accident. He was unharmed, but wouldn't be making it to the practice. I guess if there were a day to be shorthanded, Sunday was it.

I moved to the girls court and watched as they played a version of the game Keep Away. They stood in a circle lobbing chest passes while a girl in the middle bounced from side to side in an attempt to snag any misplaced ball. There were two girls who hadn't been with us for all that long, no more than two weeks, and though they were a little out of step the more experienced ones were helpful, showing them the correct way to hold their body and hands while lunging into the air or digging low for the bounce pass. That's team work!

Speaking to two young ladies last Sunday, I decided to talk to one of the boys this week and see what he had to say. His name is Abed Al-Rahamam, age 12 and hails from the Shateela Palestinian Refugee Camp. He says his favorite basketball team is Riyadi and that his favorite music is "Rap Music." He's stout young guy who rarely misses a practice, and what he lacks in speed he makes up for in effort and a keen ability to pick things up quickly.

Miguella Guerilla: How do you feel physically since playing basketball with GAM3? Healthier?

Abed Al-Rahamam: I feel normal, not necessarily healthier.

MG: How about you boys, do you generally get along?

Abed Al-Rahamam: We are good. If we fight it's only for the ball.

MG: If you could be anything when you grow up, what would you do?

AA: I'd play in the NBA. My brother went for a tryout, but didn't make it.

MG: I didn't know you could just try out. Good for him. When you're older, let's pretend you got a job that asked that you move from Lebanon, would you do it?

AA: Only if it was for the NBA, but my brother is in Sweden and I would go where ever he tells me to go.

MG: If you had one wish for Lebanon what would you wish for?

AA: For peace.

MG: What if you had one wish, but only could use it for yourself, what would you do?

AA: I'd use it see my brother in Sweden. He's 21.

Abed is in the middle of the frame about to receive a pass.

GAM3_ Back on the ASPHALT

All good on the asphalt, 30 kids for the training. Coaches ready for action.
After a freeze, GAM3 practice is back on track, everyone is ready to play Ball.
Although the numbers are low because of the exams, which will finish at the end of the month, no one can stop the fun.
GAM3's contribution to the Nasr City Youth Centre continues, as we provide two essential items (table tennis tables)!!
As doing good for the community has no boundaries, and the needs are not limited to basketball.

Interview w/ Shereen and Somaya, Mohammed on the up and up!

The violent events of Tripoli on Sunday were a world away as practice got going. Most of the usual drills were being run and though many GAM3 youth are progressing at their own pace, someone in particular stuck out . . . and he’s not a player, but a coach. We’ve been taking note of Coach Mohammed’s (the shorter of the two) ever increasing proficiency when it comes to his dealing with the kids. Whereas he may have seemed slightly distant in the past, he now appears energized and more involved. Where he once might have seemed nervous while dealing with the kids, he now appears to be confident while giving them instruction, but perhaps more than anything, he looks like he’s having fun.

Speaking of “having fun,” I spoke with two of our most regular female participants: Shereen, age 16 from Tarek Al-Jadedeh, and Somaya age 17 from Arad Jalool, and asked them some questions, with my Egyptian friend John acting as translator, about their experiences with GAM3. I wanted to get to know them a little better so before I got to the subject of basketball I asked them who their favorite singers were. They asked if I meant “American or Arab?” I told them it didn’t matter and in a very Lebanese fashion Somaya gave me an Arab name, Saber el-Rabeh, while Shereen told me that it was Masari who she favors listening to, a Canadian R&B singer of half-Armenian descent.

Miguella Guerilla: What has been the reaction of your family and friends since you’ve been coming to practices on Sunday?

Shereen: They’ve been very supportive, no problems from anyone. If I could play basketball whenever, I would.

MG: Do you have a favorite team?

Shereen and Somaya in unison: Riyadi.

MG: . . . and do you have a favorite player on Riyadi?

S & S: Ali Mahmoud.

MG: Why is that?

S & S after a shared giggle that may have disclosed their true feelings on the matter: Because he’s very enthusiastic about the game.

MG: Have you seen any problems between the kids here? if so, what has it been over?

Shereen: No there have been no problems.

MG: Not even in the beginning or first few days of practices amongst the boys?

Somaya: No, there has been nothing. In the beginning we (the girls) didn’t know each other and it was uncomfortable, but now we are all good friends.
MG: In the future, if there were a Professional Lebanese Women’s Basketball team would you want to play?

Somaya: definitely.

Shereen: ofcourse, no problem.

Shereen is in the back row, third from the right.

Somaya is in the front row on the far right with the hijab.

...and Mohammed is in black.

GAM3's DAY OUT

Due to some difficulties with having the space ready for the practices at the Youth Centre as well as exams starting this week...on Friday the 11th, we had a couple of participants on the ground, looking to go home and study for their exams on Saturday!! So we made a quick decision not to wast the day for everyone and took the Orphans for a recreational day at Al Azhar Park. High above Cairo, one of only a couple of green areas in the city with an exceptional view, the kids’ first time to see the city that contains them.

With the help of Bibo and his volunteers we were able to organize a day of joy for the unfortunate. “Food on the hill” as they experience the panoramic view of Cairo for their first time and of course have fun.

GAM3 Featured on NPR news website

NPR recently did a story on GAM3 in Beirut. Shereen Meraji, the producer/reporter for the show Day to Day, was sent to Beirut to focus on stories having do with youth movements in the area. The story was published on the third of May. Here is the link . . . and don't forget to listen to the audio as well, it's quite intriguing.


http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9925310

Summer is Here, The "Street Baller's" 1st Scrimmage

Summer has arrived! Sure, the calendar doesn’t exactly say so, but tell that to the kids sweating it out on the courts today in Qas Qas. It’s a good thing we’ve been starting the practices at nine, an hour earlier for the last few weeks, because by the time we called it a day the heat was weighing pretty heavily on us all. Besides one particular group of children that were missing it seemed that we had more than the usual number of participants this week, 21 girls was my count mid-practice.

The drills went seemingly well for all age groups, but the highlight was the scrimmage between GAM3’s very own “Street Baller’s” team, comprised of our oldest boys (some of whom are already much taller than my 5’6” frame), and a team of the same age range hailing from Qas Qas. Our boys started out a bit slowly and committed some shooting fouls, but by the end were hitting their stride, hitting fast break shots and coming up with timely steals. Rabih, one of our coaches, refereed the game . . . and though he called a fair one he was still able to hand out defensive tips to our boys in the middle of the commotion. The game itself was a real scrum, tons of blocked shots and stolen balls, with one of our boys even catching a minor scrape to his left elbow. After the scrimmage the two teams shook hands and posed for a group photo. The “Street Baller’s” certainly seemed to benefit from this kind of competition; hopefully we’ll be able to see more of this Qas Qas basketball team in the future.