Basketball Is the Solution

On October 7, Jared Armstrong was in Ashkelon, in the south of Israel, only about 13 miles from Gaza. The basketball player, who grew up in Philadelphia, was in Israel to play for the team Elizur Ashkelon when he got a phone call from his coach at 7:30 AM that rockets and missiles had landed in Israel.

“It was a surprise attack,” Armstrong said. “A rocket landed 100 feet from my apartment.”

Jared Armstrong

The player went into survival mode, immediately going to his teammate’s room and telling him they had to go up north to Ramat Hasharon for safety. They left, which proved to be a smart move; Ashkelon was one of the most targeted cities, with 1,200 rockets shot into it in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 massacre.

We’re using basketball as a way to keep up morale.

Armstrong stayed in Ramat Hasharon for six days, and then flew back to America, as the basketball season was put on pause. He was in the U.S. until the day after Thanksgiving, when the season started again. Elizur Ashkelon team members wore “Bring Them Home Now” shirts for the hostages during games and ended up coming in second place.

“It’s not a normal situation here,” he said “Basketball has given a lot of the Israeli community some sort of hope and entertainment during these rough times. We’re using basketball as a way to keep up morale.”

Bringing Hope to Kids

Along with playing on his team, Armstrong has been running basketball clinics for displaced kids in Ashkelon and the south of Israel. His project is called JAB Camp, an initiative that he started the previous summer when he was in Philadelphia.

At JAB Camp, Armstrong brought together 8-to-12-year-old kids from different backgrounds to play basketball. His goals are to fight antisemitism and racism and promote peace. His first round was so successful that it was featured on ABC and CBS.

“I had a very small idea to use basketball to bridge the gap between communities, so I started with having a free clinic this past summer,” he said. “I’m using basketball as a safe haven for kids who love sports and meet kids from other communities and have fun and learn new skills.”

Now, in the wake of the war, JAB Camp is operating in Israel. Once a month, he’s holding clinics for boys and girls, and the response has been positive.

“I wanted to use my platform as an athlete to help kids who don’t have an outlet right now,” he said. “During the war, kids in Ashkelon couldn’t go to school or participate in any extracurricular activities, so this is a good outlet for them.”

One player, a boy who participated in the last round, called the Black History Month Clinic, said, “It was fun in camp today… [There were] two months that we didn’t practice. It was fun coming back and playing with our friends.”

Another boy commented, “It was fun after the camp to get pizza and eat together – all the friends – and to laugh. It was great fun.”

What Armstrong aims to do – aside from distract the kids from the war and give them something positive to focus on – is to teach them the importance of hard work, which he learned when he started playing basketball as a kid.

“It helps you understand that in life, you’ll have highs and lows,” he said. “You have to consistently work hard. There are so many life lessons you can learn from the game like the importance of friendships and communications. I also teach financial literacy and nutrition and do a course on antisemitism and racism.”

Additionally, at his JAB Camp in the U.S., which will take place June 17th-June 21^st at the Kaiserman JCC in Philadelphia, kids are learning about various cultures and bonding over their love of basketball.

“All communities have moved into living in a bubble, even the Jewish community, which is why my goal is to find kids from all communities – like Jewish, Christian, and Muslim – and from different zip codes and cities to bring them together under one roof,” said Armstrong, who grew up going to synagogue and attended college on a basketball scholarship. “People have to step outside of their comfort zone to work with one another and understand one another. Build that foundation from the state, so that there isn’t another Kyrie Irving or Kanye West who will share ignorant statements.”

Peace Through Play

Armstrong is going to keep hosting basketball clinics in Israel and building up JAB Camp, a (501)(c)(3) nonprofit, while working on his own career. He’s played not only for Elizur Ashkelon, but also for Hapoel Haifa and Maccabi Rishon LeZion, two other basketball clubs in Israel.

“My goal is to win a championship and continue to build my career as a player and build my platform as an athlete to be a role model,” he said. “I want to be a pro-athlete who continues to bridge the gap between communities.”

With his work, Armstrong knows the only way to fight hate and bring about peace is to band together, no matter how different we may seem from the outside.

“As Nelson Mandela said, ‘Sport has the power to change the world, it has the power to inspire,’” he said. “I truly believe that. Using sports as a way to combat antisemitism, racism and hate is a beautiful way to inspired and help our youth going forward.”