The Academy is back up and running after a short break over Christmas and we have started strong. It has been great to see all the kids coming back enthusiastic and ready for a new year at the Academy and we are already consistantly seeing between 80-100 kids each week.
It has been full throttle since we started on the 10th January with sign ups, planning for the term and preperations for having a new team of coaches. We welcomed back Bethany from the UK but have also been joined for this year by another UK intern, Ben. Ben is 21 from Hereford in England and has just graduated from University with a Sports and Physical Education Degree. Together with the other coaches, we now have a very solid, strong and well rounded team of coaches and we are excited to see how we can use this to further the development of the Academy and better meet the needs of the kids.
With new team members comes new skills, talents and qualifications. We are pleased to have such a diverse group of coaches who all bring something different to the work we do and which allows us to learn and grow from each other. It’s going to be an exciting year.
The new year also bring new opportunities. We are now trialing a new Netball session in Lwandle, on top of our usual sessions, and have also taken up some more sports coaching sessions in local primary schools. It is fantastic for us to be able to reach out to more kids in the township and to continue to build relationships within our local communities. This is only made possible by having a strong and reliable team who are committed to these kids and to providing the highest level of coaching.
Despite the hot weather, the kids are arriving on the feilds in their masses full of energy and ready to learn. We are tailoring our sessions to cope with the heat and the kids are responding well to the changes. So far this year we have looked at Courage and Team Work in each of the townships which has gone very well. The kids are really showing progress in their learning on the field and it is great to see it impacting their home and school lives too.