Summary of activities in 2020 We started off in February with the usual twice-weekly coaching sessions, but with increased emphasis on playing sets. Also, a couple of sessions were held with our young Next Gen (Gr 2-4) players at the primary school. The school is allowing Khaya to do this during school time as part of their physical training classes. However, this stopped when schools were closed because of the pandemic. I have not included them in the numbers for 2020. We have decided to start again in 2021. For the older children, virtual communication or training is not possible. Some of the kids or their parents have cells, but data is a problem During Lockdown we held an environmental challenge. We asked the kids to start with cleaning up their immediate surroundings. Then they had to make a toy, gift or useful item using waste items (plastic bottles, wire, cardboard, cans, bottle tops etc). The winning item was water dispenser for washing hands - a 2 litre plastic bottle with a small hole near the bottom. The hole was plugged with a straw and the bottle filled with water. When the cap is removed, the water drips out of the straw and one can wash hands using water sparingly. No wastage from taps. This is also useful where there are no nearby taps. The Life Skills clinic has been postponed to 2021. We will either conduct a 2-day camp or a few sessions on separate weekends. Topics will probably include pollution, to which they have had an introduction, AIDS, Gender Based Violence, Self-esteem, and other topics. These topics will be in addition to the ongoing lessons in fair play, honesty, courage, perseverance that occurs during coaching. We had hoped to be far more efficient in measuring the success of our programme and the improvement in the progress of our pupils this year. We intended to introduce more criteria against which we could measure, but this was not possible. We would probably be grateful for the ICP’s grant for as long as we have the programme. I am working towards empowering Khaya, our coach, to take on more of the management while I will continue to monitor. He lives in Kenton and is far better placed to co-ordinate the programme than I am, given that I live 130kms away. He is doing so well and has just been elected to be the District Representative for 3 municipal areas in the new structure of Eastern Cape Tennis. This covers from juniors to seniors, coaching, tournaments, trials and more. The Eastern Cape is a huge area (taken from the internet - 168 966 square kilometres, the Eastern Cape is roughly the size of Uruguay. The Eastern Cape is South Africa’s second-largest province after the Northern Cape, taking up 13.9% of South Africa's land area and with an approximate population of 6.9-million people). Tennis Eastern Cape has decided to restructure the Eastern Province so that it can be managed more efficiently with a view to giving all areas the same opportunities. Presently only the major urban areas benefit. 2020 has been a challenge for all countries. For us, lockdown has meant I could not travel to Kenton, the club was closed, school was closed and Khaya had difficulty keeping contact with the kids. Right now, in December, SA is in the second wave and some restrictions have been re-introduced although it does not seem travel, schools and clubs are subject to all the stringent rules as before. I end by thanking the ICP for its continued faith in our programme, small as it is. We look forward to new highs next year as soon as some degree of normality returns. LEONIE GRONDEL December 2020
