Preserving Children's Mental Health in a War Situation

"Mental health is a cornerstone of everything we do, and our programs are designed not only to teach tennis skills but also to nurture resilience, confidence and hope."

"Together, we are building a brighter future for these children."

Ilan Allal, Israel Tennis and Educational Center (ITEC), Beersheba branch

"Now, the situation in the north has worsened, and the tennis centres there [in Haifa] are closed. I told the ITEC management that we would be happy to have those kids over and do something special for them."

"Sure they still get air-raid alarms on their phones. You can't run from it. But when they are active, whether it's playing tennis or watching a movie, it clears their heads a bit."

"This is what we try to do -- give them a feeling of safety for three days."

Yaniv Sakira, manager, Beersheba tennis centre

 

"It's very challenging to keep them focused and in a relaxed mood for an extended period. Our sessions are about 45 minutes long. It's difficult for them to sit and concentrate throughout the course."

"The kids keep a lot of their feelings inside. You have to be very patient and compassionate. We can sometimes see a switch in their emotions within a split second."

"They can go from being calm to very upset."

"It's all about building confidence and believing in themselves. they are under a lot of stress and they don't show it."

"I think in a few years all the stress will start popping out and I don't know that we are ready for it."

Asaf Barel, mental health coach

Children at Israel Tennis and Education Center's "Home Away From Home" camp. Photo by ITEC/Facebook

Fifty children arrived at the Israel Tennis and Education Centre (ITEC) branch located in Beersheba to enjoy a three-day tennis camp. These were children from communities in northern Israel, vacated with their families from their homes as a result of Hezbollah bombing from Lebanon into Israel. Their dislocation has been of a long duration, almost a year. The Hezbollah terrorist group that has Lebanon in its talons began lobbing bombs into northern Israel in solidarity with Hamas whose invasion of southern Israel on October 7, 2023 resulted in a wholesale bloodbath of Israelis of all ages, mass rape of girls and women, and the abduction of 250 Israeli infants, the elderly, entire families, woman and soldiers.

 

While the Israel Defense Forces have been fully engaged in Gaza, rooting out Hamas terrorists to entirely negate their ability to continue murdering Israelis, their search for the terror operatives who conceal themselves in the vast tunnel network under Gaza, and among the civilian population, in tunnel shafts under hospitals and schools and UNRWA administrative buildings, it has been forced to deal with the attacks from Lebanon hitting its northern flank. Some 60,000 Israelis have been evacuated from the north, living in temporary quarters in more secure areas of Israel.

 

The children bused to Beersheba for a three-day holiday to distract them from the trauma of constant sirens, the sound of bombs, the uncertainty and the fear, the total disruption of anything approximating their normal lives, the routine of attending school, taking part in games activities are all in abeyance while the Israeli military responds to the Hezbollah assaults which UNIFIL the UN body tasked with ensuring that Hezbollah not rearm itself or send missiles into Israel after a previous conflict decades earlier, has entirely failed to do; intimidated by the terror group they were dispatched to control.

 

Their attendance as a group saw children from Acre, Nahariya and the Druze town of Sajur; Jewish, Druze, Muslim and Christian children, interact with one another, participate in the opportunities to engage in sports, take lessons, communicate between them, and be exposed to sessions meant to alleviate, however temporarily, the tensions they are under ordinarily during this fraught time for Israelis. They are being taught methods by which they can better understand their emotions and how to deal with them.

 

Travelling by bus with selected coaches, the children were put up at a Beersheba Hotel. There, along with tennis sessions, activities such as attending a movie theatre, taking part in bowling and video games, the children were totally immersed in a child-centric atmosphere, altogether unlike what has become of their normal lives. One of the games they were introduced to functioned both as a game and a learning session. The children were instructed to pop balloons for a prize. Within each balloon were questions questioning their state of mind and feelings.

"They were eager to pop the balloons and answer questions to get the prize. They were very cooperative and shared their thoughts", explained mental health coach Barel. "Sometimes I ask them how many times they think they can jump on one leg. Most of the time, they underestimate themselves and we show them that the ceiling, if there is one, is  higher than they think. It's all about building confidence and believing in themselves."

The Druze manager, Alam Ibrahim, referenced the Druze town of Majdal Shams on the Golan Heights that was hit by a Hezbollah missile when 12 children were killed in July when the missile struck a soccer field popular with the town's children. "Some of the children that were murdered played tennis with us. Twelve worlds ended because terrorists decided to shoot a missile. We re all in the same boat. We are in rough seas, we either gather together and bring the ship to safer waters or we lose hope", he said.

 

Israeli police officers and firefighters work at the site of a rocket attack in Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, Saturday, July 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Gil Eliyahu)

"We wanted to take these kids away from the alarms, the shelling and the atmosphere of war, enhance their resilience and share with them on the tennis field."

"While the cultures are different, we know how to unite the kids through sport, especially on the tennis field."

"Our vision does not differentiate between skin or hair colour. We are all together. It warms the heart to see a religious Jewish kid play with an Arab girl, there is hope in that."

Alam Ibrahim, Druze manager of ITEC's Sajur branch