With the Turf Series, which connects athletes and creators outside of the Palm Heights resort, Palm Heights Athletics is extending its community and curating an experience that ties sport to culture and home. The first series launched last October in Accra, Ghana. Ghanaian boxer Joshua Buatsi helped curate the event along with Kenny Annan-Jonathan, founder of the sports marketing agency The Mailroom, Antoinette Ama, and Jenn O’Reilly, who is head of athlete relationships at Palm Heights Athletics and used to work at Nike. The series brought together artists and creators to experience Accra’s rich boxing community in Bukom, an area that’s dotted with many boxing gyms (boxing in Ghana has produced the most world boxing champions from Africa, which is depicted in Scilla Owusu’s City of Bokum documentary). 

“The power of the collective mix is essential to creating the kinetic energy our sports programming fosters at PHA,” says Khalil. “Expanding these opportunities through athlete-led exploration of the home of a particular sport, and its culture, means we have the opportunity to amplify the message of the power of sport.”

Khalil believes the Turf Series function is multipronged. It provides creatives with a new, meaningful experience and an opportunity to connect with other artists, and it allows athletes to collaborate with creatives, which can be a challenge due to their full-time training schedule.