Twenty Teams Unite for William Dawson Peace Cup

The 2025 William Dawson Basketball Tournament tips off tonight with twenty teams hitting the court at the Birds Isle. What started in 2015 with just six teams has grown into a major event, drawing players from Belize City and surrounding villages. But this tournament goes beyond sports and skill on the hardwood, it’s also about peace. At a time when tensions run high in some communities, this tournament is a powerful intervention strategy. Instead of rival groups clashing on the streets, they’re facing off on the court. As organizers put it, ‘Instead of shooting guns, they shoot basketball.’ It’s a tribute to William Dawson’s vision and a commitment to using sports to build unity and resolve conflict.

 

Douglas Hyde, Tournament Organizer

“Today we’ll open the season, the 2025 William Dawson Basketball Tournament with twenty teams. It’s going to be exciting, and a lot of good teams are participating this year, and of course we are doing it in his memory and his honor which is very important for intervention through sports. We started off in 2015 with six teams, and I am proud to know that we’re still in the twenties, twenty teams to participate in the competition, not only from Belize City but also including the villages which is very important for Belize District.”

 

Isani Cayetano

“This season comes at a very critical time when Belize City has been under siege by rival groups who are going at it with each other. What is the specific purpose of bringing these people together this time around to play basketball as a means of intervening in crime and violence and, of course, to present some kind of conflict resolution?”

 

Douglas Hyde

“You’re totally right. The communities in some areas are… the heat is on. This competition, this tournament is a strategic way of looking at intervention through sports. This is where some of these rivalries, and competing communities, come on the basketball court and instead of shooting guns, they shoot basketball. And we’ve seen it work over the years, before he passed, William saw the strategy, and he said that this is something that the Leadership Intervention Unit needs to continue support and develop and from his passing away until now we continue on.”