8 series challenge 6

The tournament started at 3.00 pm and ended at 4:30 pm with most of the children coming from Kibera. The tournament was held at our court in Kibera for the young ones mostly under the age of 6  and 8
The children were organized in different a category that is under 6 years, 8 years, 10 years and 12 years. The under 6 and under 8 tournament was held at the Kibera tennis court and the under 10 and under 12 was held at Sadili Oval sports Academy  

                                  

The children were registered, given uniforms and later went to their different pools and the competitions started this being the 6^th 8 series challenge the children showed remarkable results as most of them had improved from the previous results. The game was intense as each player didn't want to lose the ball you could actually follow with yours eyes to see where the ball falls next and the tension in the children as they didn’t want to loose.

 

''There is a lot of improvement from the children who constantly come for practice during Saturday squad sessions, the evening sessions and the holiday camp. This being a continuing group that was started in January ,am glad as most of the children understand the basics of tennis and are consistent in their training session observing discipline so that they can excel. I would also like to thank Dr Elizabeth Odera our director for providing sports uniforms for our children the uniformity was amazing. My objective is to get my team to play tournaments outside Sadili and also participate in major championships "said coach Asha Adongo during a short interview.

Running Court of Dreams.

Children being taught about WASH.

When carrying out sessions you might think that the children are just doing it for fun or not getting it until they shock you by telling  you what you taught them a few weeks ago .Its then that it will hit you that you positively impacted the children which is the goal from the word go.

All trough from year one since the initiating of the Court of dreams program we have been able to interact with different children from different schools

comprising those leaving with disabilities, most of them coming from the large slum of Kibera. Teaching them WASH and Comprising it with sports has been the most amazing thing we ever did as the children did not only learn but they learnt and had fun at the same time making the lessons memorable.

The first group that we started with are all grown now in class 5 and by the time we were starting with them they were in class 3.Some of them during the tennis sessions at the Kibera tennis court they would come and help coach Asha Adongo run the sessions. The teachers have also been very supportive during our sessions helping us manage the children and also keeping us up to date with the new curriculum when we are running our sessions.

Parents during the meeting.

The community at large inclusive of the parents has also been very helpful in taking part in our activities that is the cleanups, home visits, training’s, taking care of our community court and policy making. Running our project has been smooth .Despite the small hitches here and there, the good work of promoting WASH, numeracy and literacy will continue.

The August Holiday Camp

A session on how to hold the racket

The holiday camp was carried out from the 20th  of August to the 31st at the Kibera tennis court.Most of our participants being children under the age of 10 years.Being the holiday season the turn up was great as most of the children were not going to school thus attending the August holiday camp.
Life skills sessions and sports sessions were the main activities being carried out during the holiday camp.Under life skills,the emphasis was on WASH activities and some of the sessions carried out in the two weeks camp included ;Hand washing(Steps of hand washing,When to wash hands and the importance of washing hands),Keeping the environment clean,Brushing teeth and Cholera.
In sports tennis was the main game being played and most of the players being new faces the coach had to start with the basics of tennis that is;How to hold the racket,How to swing backhand and forehand,How to hit and roll the ball.She was however impressed as most of the children were fast learners and were picking up the skills really fast,with the help of the older squad kids she was able to run her sessions with the large number of young ones who showed up.

Learning how to roll

Immediately the children saw coach Adongo carrying porridge and heading down to Kibera tennis court they  would immediately swarm up the place ready for the sessions with their cups and plates for porridge and sweet potatoes or 'KDF' which was being served after every session. ''I am really grateful for the holiday camp as it has really helped my children as she refers to them,some have even come and confessed how they used to use the same basin to wash their utensils and again shower with it but now they have a separate basin for doing dishes and showering which is a good thing .For my old players,their tennis skills have greatly improved and for the new players they have gained some skills and with consistency in training they will be as good as the others.Am also happy about the food that was being offered at the end of the session as it tremendously contributed to the huge turnout of children thus being able to teach life skills and tennis to many children",said Coach Adongo during a short interview with her.

Brushing teeth being demonstrated by one of the children

Time for Porridge