The Jerusalem Foundation strives to enhance shared living, communal strength, future leadership and quality of life in Jerusalem, and we view sport as a tool that encompasses all of these values that we wish to promote in the city. The Jerusalem Foundation’s sport programs strengthen communities by providing a focus for physical activity, leisure, healthy competition and community pride. Through these sporting initiatives, children and youth from across the religious, cultural and socio-economic ‘divides’ are enjoying physical, sporting and social activities, alongside educational and confidence-building boosting.  These programs also set out to minimize gaps in access to extracurricular activities which are usually expensive and out of reach for many. They level the ‘playing field’ for youth from disadvantaged backgrounds, empower girls to be strong and fit, and give opportunities to new immigrants to fit in and excel.

 

The Swimming activities

Swimming Together is a competitive program which runs several inter-cultural and inter-religious swimming teams including Jews, Muslims and Christians, boys and girls, from East and West Jerusalem. They meet, swim, train, compete and socialize together, under the auspices of the Jerusalem Swimming Club. This program creates a professional and empowering platform for bringing people together, introducing children from different populations to one another and creating communities whose values promote equal opportunities for all and striving for excellence.

 

The most popular program is a swimming team of boys and girls ages 14 to 18. The rigorous and highly professional weekly training regimen includes eight water training sessions (six in the evening and two in the morning), in addition to three dry physical fitness training sessions and three weight training sessions. Many participants stay with the program for four years. On this long journey, the team trains together, meets with their Jewish, Muslim or Christian colleagues, and learns from one another. When in the water, religious and cultural differences become invisible and the team carries this natural sense of acceptance and cooperation out of the pool. The swimmers participate in national competitions and the best ones continue to higher level competitions after age 18.

 

Over the years, thanks to this special program, hundreds of young girls and boys, Jews and Arabs, have received superb swimming training and made friends – from different communities to their own – for life. The routine training and competitions forge a team spirit, pride in one another’s sporting achievements and long-term friendships. The collaborative spirit fosters an open, tolerant, supportive and welcoming space – despite the differences in backgrounds and points of view.

 

What is more, Swimming Together is a vital lifeline to the ‘before-the-war’ normalcy for Jerusalem’s youngsters suffering from mental and physical stress and trauma, non-stop bad news and disruption, due to the ongoing war. It provides them with a much-needed routine, physical exertion, social and cross-cultural activities, outings and hope for a better future.