Violence in Israel and Gaza is back in the news again. The conflict seems endless, and it’s left me feeling painfully aware of the futility of violence to resolve the tensions.

When I was fourteen, I was drawn to Ultimate first by its unique ideas about sportsmanship. I play at a very different level today, but I find it’s still true: by playing Ultimate, I’ve learned respect my opponent more deeply. It may not always work perfectly but, in the end, Ultimate brings me together with my opponent.

See the connection?

In the past year, a group of Ultimate players—men and women on clubs from across the country—have formed an organization called Ultimate Peace. In April, we will be traveling to Israel to run an Ultimate clinic for disadvantaged youth from Palestinian and Israel. We’ll be teaching them to play Ultimate, helping to organize and coach cross-cultural teams at a tournament during our stay, and traveling back to their communities to promote the growth of the sport and its ideals.

Will it fix the Middle East? It would be naïve to think so. But, to me, it is important to do something in the world. I only have the skills that I have—and so we are trying to do our little piece, applying our knowledge and love of Ultimate to the conflict.

This is, as you might have guessed, an attempt to raise money—the clinic and the trip will be expensive, and we’re trying to defray the costs before April. But if you’re reading this blog, it’s because you believe that Ultimate is special and that makes you our target audience.

If you are able to support us financially, you can do so at UltimatePeace.org/Donate. We are relying on grassroots support to make this trip possible; any level of donation makes a difference for our trip. Or, if you’d just like to learn more, please visit our website at UltimatePeace.org.

If you’re still not convinced, you’ll find a video below that was produced by the Peres Center for Peace (our partner in organizing the clinics). It’s a little slow to begin with, and it uses soccer instead of Ultimate to make the point, but just think about the next one highlighting Ultimate.