The friendship games
Founded and inspired by ed and penelope peskowitz
Fostering global connections through basketball
The Friendship Games is an event bringing together participants from across our global movement for a week of basketball, leadership, and cultural exchange. After nearly 20 years successfully bridging divides and developing leaders in conflict regions around the world, PeacePlayers was thrilled to launch its first global initiative, the PeacePlayers Friendships Games. The program, generously co-founded by Ed and Penelope Peskowitz in 2019, connects and mobilizes PeacePlayers youth leaders from our five international sites around the globe for a joint program of basketball, leadership training and cultural exchange.
The Friendship Games includes year-round local activities and an annual global convening that brings together some 150 participants, ages 13-16, from the Middle East, South Africa, Northern Ireland, Cyprus and the United States as well as 100 additional international stakeholders.
This initiative marked a new stage in PeacePlayers’ growth, enabling us to “ignite a global movement” of young leaders who are motivated and equipped to use the power of basketball to build a more peaceful and equitable world.
Location: Detroit
Dates: July 27 – Aug 3, 2025
Participants: 15-20 longtime participants & coaches from each of our four year-round sites
The Friendship Games is a global initiative that unites participants from Northern Ireland, South Africa, the Middle East and the United States for a week of basketball, leadership, and cultural exchange.
In 2025, Detroit will take center stage as the host city, welcoming over 65 youth and 25 coaches from around the world and engaging hundreds more from the Detroit area. Hosting the Games offers a unique opportunity for young people in Detroit to showcase their city and engage with their counterparts from around the world through the sport of basketball.
This gathering not only highlights Detroit’s vibrant culture and community but also reinforces the city’s traditions of embracing diversity and being future focused.
2025 FRIENDSHIP GAMES IMPACT
FRIENDSHIP GAMES PARTICIPANTS WILL:
Make personal connections with PeacePlayers’ coaches and participants worldwide.
Learn about the culture, challenges, and opportunities in the US and other Global PeacePlayers locations.
Enjoy a week of basketball skill building, learning, working with teams and engaging in competitions.
Develop leadership skills by working on projects that equip them to build peace in their local communities.
Have FUN, make friends, engage in new opportunities, and build a sense of community through sport.
Hosted By:
Voices from the field
The true power of a global movement
Bringing together like-minded young people
A Contributor to Cultural Awareness
A Human-Centered approach & perspective
Youth leaders, ages 13-16, who have excelled in PeacePlayers programs around the world come together for an exciting roster of activities, including:
1
Basketball competition
Join PeacePlayers youth on the basketball court for 3×3 and 5×5 basketball competition
2
Leadership and learning
Take part in leadership trainings with PeacePlayers youth
3
Teambuilding/ cultural exchange
Learn about a variety of cultures through food, dance, music, and more
PeacePlayers is ready to scale up it’s impact by igniting a movement of global peacebuilders to work together to build bridges, transform communities, and use sport to show that peace is possible!
Educations content for the Friendship Games focuses on three important life skills and core values that will serve youth on and off the basketball court.
Core
values
Culture of Collaboration
Seeing people as people
inside out transformation
Tulin Abatay | PeacePlayers Cyprus Friendship Games 2020
With PeacePlayers, I really changed. I got a whole new perspective about the conflict and how we were taught to be full of hatred. We are the new generation, I feel like we could change a whole lot of things in Cyprus and in the whole world.
Friendship Games 2022
PeacePlayers hosted our first ever in-person global convening, the 2022 Friendship Games. 150+ participants, coaches, and guests from around the globe met in the Middle East from July 29 to August 3, 2022 for a week of teambuilding, basketball, leadership, and sharing of each others’ cultures.
Meet our 2022 Storytelling Ambassadors
Friendship Games 2021
Cultural Twinnings
January - June
Once a month, a PeacePlayers site hosts youth, alumni and coaches from around the world in team building and cultural learning activities that serve to unite our youth and give them the feeling that they are part of something greater — a global movement.
Cyprus Says: Language Fun at the Friendship Games
April 26, 2021
Cyprus Says: Language Fun at the Friendship Games
PeacePlayers Walk
June 21 - August 6
In order to encourage physical activity and excite our youth about the upcoming Games, we are hosting a virtual “walk” between sites. Participants and friends of PeacePlayers will receive a Fitbit to track their steps while they walk, run, and play basketball throughout the day.
The Global Journey
15,251.85 Miles, 24545.96 Kilometers
