Joanne Fitzpatrick

Core Programming and Curriculum Specialist with The PeacePlayers

Founded in South Africa in 2000 and launched in Northern Ireland in 2002 by brothers Sean and Brendan Tuohey, PeacePlayers was born from the recognition of ‘the unique role sport could play in bringing people together across societal divides.’ The organisation offers basketball programming, peace education, and leadership development and since 2002, PeacePlayers has expanded into the Middle East, the US and Cyprus to empower the youth to build peaceful societies.

My name is Joanne Fitzpatrick and I was born and raised in the beautiful Mourne mountains area of County Down, in Northern Ireland. I grew up in a small village called Dundrum, just outside of Newcastle. Dundrum is a very mixed community, with Catholics and Protestants living beside each other and, as children, we attended the same youth club and played in the same parks. Growing up, to me, this was ‘normal’. It wasn’t in our heads to ask who was Catholic or who was Protestant, we just knew that we went to different primary schools, and that was just how it was. We were friends and there was never any sectarianism.

In 1998, the two schools from our village, the Catholic ‘Sacred Heart’ and the Protestant ‘Downshire’ primary school went to Stormont, to sing with a man called Tommy Sands. We had no idea why. We didn’t understand why there were hundreds of news cameras around us or why a man with a big beard called Gerry gave us a bottle of coke. It was only years later that I discovered that this was in fact referred to as “a decisive moment” in the week of the Good Friday Agreement. I guess that’s where my role in activism began.

I now work for PeacePlayers, a global charity organisation that uses sport, mainly basketball, to bridge divides, change perceptions and develop leaders in areas that have historically been divided by conflict. In South Africa, we address the legacy of apartheid. In Cyprus, we bridge the divide between the Turkish North and the Greek South. In the Middle East, we address the ongoing conflict of territory between the Jewish and Arab communities living in Israel. In the United States, we address the legacy of years of racism and discrimination. In Northern Ireland, we address the legacy of the Troubles. In each of these sites, we address these divides by creating integrated basketball teams, in the hope that ‘children that play together, can learn to live together’.

I discovered PeacePlayers as I was asked to volunteer at a winter tournament, Jingle Ball 2007, and fell in love instantly. The atmosphere was like nothing I’d seen before, music playing all day, kids dancing and playing together, both on and off the court. I got my first t-shirt and noticed the logo, a basketball, a world and a hand shake. I got it, I understood the purpose and I wanted in.

I started coaching in 2008 and within 4 months was asked to join the staff team. Our management at the time were American and the recruitment policy was a bit slacker then. They offered me the job because they wanted a local female, it worked for me.

When I started coaching young people from communities where there was so much hatred for ‘the other side’, I felt very out of my depth. I didn’t know what it was like to be in their shoes. I didn’t know what it was like to see and hear ‘kill all taigs/huns’ on a daily basis. I didn’t know what it was like to know death at the hands of ‘a religion’. I felt very inadequate, ‘who was I, a girl who grew up knowing Protestants as my equals, relate to these kids in any way.’ I was on a Living with Diversity training course where I discovered that I could use my experiences as an example of what was possible. I was bringing a baggage-free approach to coaching, that our local, Belfast-based coaches maybe didn’t have, I presented possibilities.

This idea of presenting the possibilities became my motivation. I gained a love for learning and sharing understanding. With the idea of uniting, educating and inspiring our participants, I started thinking of how to bring the fun to more challenging conversations, to explore what the world beyond the barriers was like, through basketball.

Basketball is a great tool for this, especially in Northern Ireland where sport can be divisive. Where sport is branded Catholic or Protestant and where it’s neutral, there’s Catholic and Protestant teams. Basketball is still a novelty, but it’s a neutral novelty. It holds no religion, no gender, no language and no barriers.

Over the years, my role in the organisation has developed as my understanding and experience grew. I am now, 14 years later, responsible for all of our programming for 8 years to 18 years across Northern Ireland and my key role is in the development of our peace education through sport material. We don’t take the approach that many others do, where the kids play games, then we talk about good relations topics. We interweave both, creating experiential learning opportunities on the court and exploring how competition on the court can represent conflict in the real world. Our core values of inside out transformation, seeing people as people and culture of collaboration are vital messages on the basketball court and across the divide.

*Israel, 2022, Working with PeacePlayers participants from Cyprus, Middle East, Northern Ireland, South Africa and United States*

I’ve been very fortunate over the years to take my experience in developing curricula and delivering peace education training around the world working with sporting governing bodies, NGOs and corporate organisations in Rome, Chicago, Hong Kong and Rwanda. Learning from mentors such as Chad Ford, author of the book Dangerous Love, and Tony MacAuley, author of The Paper Boy, The Bread Boy and The Belfast Gate, I’ve discovered the passion that I hold for educating others in all things conflict resolution.

Thank you to Joanne for contributing her story.