Sports Programs
Athletic competitions and running events bring together people of diverse backgrounds to promote good sportsmanship and build friendship and good will. For suggestions about how to organize a one-day community sports event, click here.
- Written by: UPF - Europe
Seville, Spain — In town for the finals of the fourth Peace Cup, the premier international club football competition he launched in Korea six years ago, the UPF founder Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon took the opportunity to share a vision of peace for Europe and the world at a celebratory program at the Barceló Renacimiento Hotel Convention Center in Seville. In addition to Ambassadors for Peace from throughout Spain, the large crowd included delegates from more than 30 European nations and from as far afield as the United States, Korea, and Japan.
- Written by: UPF-St. Lucia
Castries, St. Lucia - While the beautiful Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia and her citizens daily offer a welcome to tourists who come to enjoy her pleasant climate and beautiful shores, it seeks to improve the situation of its citizens who suffer a high rate of diabetes and a rising rate of unemployment. Leaders are looking at sports and the benefits they offer as a way to promote healthy social transformation.
- Written by: Maki Tanimura, UPF - Honduras
La Paz, Honduras - On December 13-14, 60 young people participated in a weekend of intense sports and education in La Paz, or the City of Peace, the capital city of one of the largest of 18 departmental regions of Honduras, the department of La Paz.
- Written by: Diesa Seidel
Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire - Athletic organizers hosted a three-day program for high school girls in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire September 17-19, 2008.
- Written by: John Gehring
Nairobi, Kenya - Following a series of sports tournaments in martial arts, hockey, and football, organizer John Gehring spoke to the International Leadership Seminar (ILC) in Nairobi on the how athletic programs can help promote peace.
- Written by: Wang Zhijun, International Educational Foundation, Beijing, China
The importance of character education and family culture are manifest in pre-Olympic civic education campaigns in China. Two women’s organizations jointly sponsor women professors lecturing in the main districts of Beijing. One is the Beijing Municipal Women’s Federation and the other the Women’s Sub-committee of the Beijing Committee of China Democratic League, which is comprised mainly of intellectuals.
- Written by: Emmanuel Bauer
Seebenthstein, Austria - The European football team EuroPhoenix came together for a football workshop in Seebenstein, Austria. In total, 35 young adults gathered in the seminar center from July 19 to 24, 2008.
- Written by: UPF - Guatemala
Tierra Nueva, Guatemala - More than 200 children participated in a special sports activity led by two sports educators, Diesa Seidel and Janna Gullery, as well as by Mr. Luis Navarro, coordinator of Moving Dreams, a project of Pro Paz. This took place in the Settlement Tierra Nueva 1 in Guatemala.
- Written by: Peace Queen Cup
With a 92-minute goal, the US women's soccer [football] team defeated Canada to win the Peace Queen Cup on June 21. The finalists and their scores were the same as in the inaugural tournament in 2006.
- Written by: John Gehring and Jason Sue
UPF offers various sports programs in promotion of peace in support of the UN Year of Sports and Physical Education.
- Written by: Marty
Play Football, Make Peace has run pilot programs for young people in Gaza, Israel and Jordan. The power of sports to bring down borders was shown when young people from the separate areas of Gaza had a unique chance to meet each other and compete through a Play Soccer [Football] Make Peace tournament.
- Written by: John Gehring, Interreligious Peace Sports Festival
More than 700 students from four middle schools in Israel took part in a Dec. 1-6, 2007 interreligious program in the Haifa region of Carmel that promoted friendship and good sportsmanship..