When Oren Lieber-Kotz entered his freshman year at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, everything felt unfamiliar, so the competitive swimmer decided to try a new sport as well. When he tried ultimate frisbee, he was hooked—on the fast-paced, nonstop, no-contact sport and on its positive culture as well. Immediately, Oren started making good friends. While watching a DC Current Major League game, he met a representative of Ultimate Peace (UP), an organization whose mission is to build bridges of mutual respect, cooperation, and friendship among Arab, Jewish and Palestinian youth through the sport of ultimate frisbee. This, Oren realized, perfectly united his athletic passion, his language skills, his cultural interests, and his hopes for the future.
Oren began organizing and hosting Ultimate Peace Friendship Tours for UP Leaders in Training (LITs). Now a high school senior, and a LIT himself, Oren—whose father is Israeli and was a “kibbutznik”—has spent two summers at Camp Ultimate Peace in Ashkelon, Israel. On April 23, 2017, Oren will host an Ultimate Hat Tournament for high school kids from Maryland and DC to spend the day learning, playing, making friends, and raising some money for the UP mission.
We did a little Q&A with Oren to find out what makes Ultimate Frisbee, well, his ultimate inspiration.
Ok, let’s just pretend we know nothing about Ultimate. How does a Hat Tournament work? Individuals are assigned to teams for 7 x 7 play, on a football field with deeper end zones. You have to pass the Frisbee once you catch it. You can’t run with it. You score by catching the Frisbee in your end zone.
How are you getting the word out? We have an Ultimate Facebook group and a local Ultimate newsletter. I’m hoping for 50 people, probably of varying skill levels. It’s $15/person and I’ll make sure everyone knows they can kick in another $8 to get the full $23 match from Positive Tracks.
How did you first get involved with Ultimate Peace? In 10th grade, I had to do a school research project, so I did it on Ultimate Peace and interviewed the UP founder, David Barkan. Later that spring, I got involved by helping with the LIT friendship tour that my school hosted. After that, I became captain of my Ultimate team and made sure we hosted the friendship tour again the next year. Then I went to the Ultimate Peace Camp in Israel.
Tell us about Ultimate Peace Camp: It’s lots of fun and I made a lot of friends – it really is more about making friends. It’s 10 days long, and this year I’ll be a second year LIT. Last summer, I also stayed on with a friend who lived in the village of Tamra, 20 minutes from the kibbutz where my family is, in Alonim. The camp helped me gain a new and optimistic viewpoint on the Israeli-Arab relationship and strengthened my respect for the power of sports to close even the deepest divisions.
What is it about the game of Ultimate that makes it an especially good vehicle for the mission of Ultimate Peace? There are two main Ultimate principles: First, it is a self-refereed sport at all levels. The “Spirit of the Game” is essential. It’s not fun if we don’t respect each other. Second is the structure, which is very teamwork based. You have to work together and pass the frisbee once you catch it.
Swimming is not a team sport, but did it somehow help you excel in Ultimate? Swimming was hugely helpful! Not only did it give me an athletic advantage coming in, but it was also through an intense, individual, strength-based sport like swimming that I really learned about hard work, discipline, and constant improvement. That kind of mental athleticism was an important factor in succeeding in Ultimate, but also in school.
You speak Hebrew and are learning Arabic. How did that come about? I grew up speaking Hebrew and English, and I have been taking Arabic in my school for four years. Arabic is the third language of Israel and not nearly enough people speak it. Nobody in my family speaks it. It’s actually a culture we have a lot to do with. By far the biggest challenge at the camps is the language barrier.
Is it hard to get Arab and Israeli people to come together for a camp? No. There are enough people on both sides who want to do something to promote peace. And there are some who just want to learn how to play frisbee. Everyone who is there really wants to be there and work together.
How do you manage talking about the political situation? At UP they do not deal with the political conversation. They just focus on frisbee. Oftentimes LIT’s, when they have been together a couple of years, end up having those conversations. But by then they are friends, and they are already putting respect above winning the argument, in the same way that the game of Ultimate puts respect above winning the game.
You’re a senior. What’s up for you next year? College! I haven’t heard back from any schools yet, but Ultimate is a really big driver for where I want to go.
Good luck and peace wherever you go Oren!
By Edie Morgan, Positive Tracks Wordsmith & Blog Master
Me In 140 Characters Or Less: Writer, Skier, Raiser Of Children; Cries Way Too Easily At The Good Stuff; Downhill Racer; Advocate Of Entertaining More & Fussing Less; Gladly Cooks; Reluctantly Cleans; Picnic Instigator