From PeacePlayers to the Premier League: Noor Kayouf’s Trailblazing Journey
Nov 24, 2025
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The first Druze woman to play professional basketball in Israel, PeacePlayers alumna Noor Kayouf is redefining what it means to lead — as a player, coach, and role model for girls in her community.
When Noor Kayouf laces up her shoes to play with Maccabi Haifa, she carries more than the pride of being team captain in Israel’s Premier League. She carries the unshakable belief that basketball can change lives — starting with her own.
Noor made history as the first woman from the Druse community (a cultural and religious minority community in Israel) to play in Israel’s Premier Basketball League and represent the Israeli national team. She’s also a PeacePlayers coach — leading girls in the same community where her journey began. For her, basketball isn’t just a sport; it’s a space for transformation. “Basketball made me have a very strong character, and know what I’m worth.” Noor says. “Because in the end, you’re alone with yourself. If you work hard, you’ll see the results.”
A proud PeacePlayers Middle East alumna, Noor began her basketball journey as a third grader in her hometown of Usfiya, a Druze village in northern Israel. “I started with the older girls,” Noor recalls. “It helped me toughen up a lot. The practices were at a very high level—the staff and the whole framework—it’s not something you just get anywhere.”
For Noor, those early experiences went far beyond basketball skills. “The most important thing I got from PeacePlayers,” she says, “is to accept others and those who are different. People who don’t come from my mentality – they learn about us, and likewise, I learn about them.”
Her father, Samikh, witnessed her growth from the start. A trailblazer in his own right, having brought basketball to Usafiya nearly three decades ago, Samikh proudly calls Noor “a trailblazer in the Druze community.” He adds, “She’s the first Druze woman in the Premier League, the first Druze woman on the Israeli national team. She’s always been the first.”
But Noor’s story isn’t just about breaking barriers — it’s about the values she continues to live and teach. “PeacePlayers taught me to look at a person as a person, no matter their religion or their skin color,” she says. “If we got to a point where everyone accepted others for who they are, we’d be in a different place.”
And as her father puts it, when he sees the young girls of PeacePlayers from Jerusalem, Holon, and Usfiya sharing the court, “It’s not ‘the bad ones from that side’ or ‘the bad ones from this side.’ It’s actually the good ones coming together in one place.”
That lesson became the foundation of everything she’s achieved since. Today, Noor is giving back as a PeacePlayers coach in her hometown of Usfiya, the same community where her basketball journey began. “Honestly, I went through a journey with them,” she says of her young players. “It starts with them being little and crying about everything, and suddenly they become independent, each one standing her ground, learning to accept her teammates, learning to talk and communicate. That’s something very important.”
Now, as both a professional athlete and a mentor, Noor carries the PeacePlayers spirit forward — modeling excellence, empathy, and resilience for the next generation. “I think I’m a role model,” she admits. “It’s fun—but it comes with a lot of responsibility: not to mess up, and always behave like a professional, both as an athlete and as a person.”
