Education South Africa Project #2405

Developing Vulnerable Kids Thru Sport South Africa

by United Through Sport SA

Project Report | Dec 31, 2018
Final whistle for 2018

By Cindy Preller | External Relations Manager

With the help of you – our loyal supporters and partners - United Through Sport has reached over 14 150 children with coaching and mentorship at junior school level, supported 75 children to go to top level senior schools and supported 23 youth at University in 2018.

It has been a busy year at United Through Sport in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa, where we have achieved several milestones as an organisation:

We built the United Through Sport Multi-Sport Court, which was supported by several funders. The court was built at Isaac Booi Primary School, one of our anchor schools in Zwide, where learners can now play netball, basketball and tennis on the court. A first for the area, the children from Isaac Booi and surrounding schools are now exposed to tennis for the first time.
We launched a pilot programme, GirlsUnite, at Astra Primary School, another partner school of United Through Sport. The focus of GirlsUnite is to empower girls and help them cope with the challenges they face through structured Self-defence, Literacy and Counselling sessions. The girls’ empowerment programme is for girls aged 10 to 13 years old.
Our staff had a jam-packed year filled with training, hard work and even meeting some dignitaries. Highlights include our General Manager Spakes Xapile who went to Paris, France, in October to attend the Laureus Sport for Good Global Summit. The theme for the summit was Inclusion & Gender Equality and she got to meet several fellow member grantees in the sport for good industry. United Through Sport Director Nick Mould also met the British High Commissioner to South Africa, Nigel Casey, in Cape Town as well as Germany’s Lower Saxony Interior Minister Boris Pistorius, who visited our programme in Motherwell.

United Through Sport also celebrated the achievements and milestones of the children in our programmes – who are the heart and soul of our organisation. Here are just a few highlights:

Chadleigh, who has been a beneficiary of United Through Sport’s programmes for the past five years, crowned his high school career with the achievement of being announced his School’s Dux (top academic learner of the school). He also received numerous awards and prizes for several regional competitions, including two bursaries from Rhodes University.
Kiara, a Senior School of Excellence beneficiary in Grade 10, was selected to the South African Under 17 High Performance Training Squad following the National Under 18 Hockey Tournament, where she represented the Eastern Province Under 18-A team. She made the team despite getting her hand fractured on the very first day of the tournament. Luckily, she played in one and a half games – which was enough time to show the selectors what she’s made of.
Kyra, a Grade 11 learner, who also represented the Eastern Province Under 18-A team at the National Under 18 Hockey Tournament, was selected to the South African Under 18-B side. A total of 13 beneficiaries of United Through Sport’s programmes in Nelson Mandela Bay, including Kyra and Kiara, were selected to represent the Eastern Cape in either rugby or hockey in 2018.
Bronwyn achieved her 2017 National Senior Certificate with a Bachelor’s Pass and attained four distinctions through Pearson High School. Bronwyn is currently studying Medicine at Free State University in Bloemfontein and has completed her first year of studies.

Thank you to every individual who has contributed to transform the lives of the children in Nelson Mandela Bay. We look forward to another productive year in 2019, and value your partnership and support.

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Oct 1, 2018
GirlsUnite empowerment programme launched

By Cindy Preller | External Relations Manager

GirlsUnite

UNITED Through Sport recently launched a brand-new programme, GirlsUnite, at Astra Primary School in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, to empower young girls from the community.

The focus of GirlsUnite is to help girls cope with some of the challenges they face through structured Self-defence, Literacy and Counselling sessions. The girls’ empowerment programme is for girls aged 10 to 13 years old, from Bethelsdorp and surrounding areas.

“While we are piloting the programme at Astra Primary School, we hope to extend the programme in the years to come, as this has been identified as an important need in the areas where we work,” said United Through Sport Director Nick Mould.

United Through Sport currently runs a Junior School of Excellence (JSE) Programme for primary school children to receive extra academic support, further sports development and mentoring. The JSE programme is based at Astra Primary School in Bethelsdorp and Isaac Booi Primary School in Zwide.

United Through Sport’s JSE Programme offers an environment of safety and positivity and a beacon of hope for many young children growing up in the surrounding community. As an added investment into the girls from the school and surrounding community, United Through Sport launched the girls’ empowerment programme GirlsUnite.

Because of their socio-economic environment, many of the girls in the JSE programme have challenges preventing them from attending afternoon classes, and learning at school, including physiological (reproductive needs), safety at home and on the way to school, as well as personal needs related to self-esteem and self-actualisation.

The GirlsUnite Programme is a one-year project, made possible by EMpower’s Bright Promise Awards, from the Estee Lauder Companies Charitable Foundation. Nelson Mandela University’s Psychology Clinic, which is based at the Missionvale campus, is partnering with United Through Sport by offering counselling services for the GirlsUnite Programme.

Counselling and group sessions have started at Astra Primary in the school’s library room as well as a converted container, which was donated by Siyaloba Training Academy. When the container is not used for counselling, it functions as a “girls-only” space used for extra reading sessions and informal mentoring sessions. Other than girls from Astra Primary School, girls from the surrounding community will also make use of the girls-only space and drop-in counselling services.

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Jul 3, 2018
United Through Sport builds second sports court

By Cindy Preller | External Relations Manager

Isaac Booi Multi-Sport Court

LEAVING a legacy by building a place where children can continue to play sport for years to come, was the motivation for an exciting new project completed this year by United Through Sport South Africa.

The opening of the Isaac Booi Multi-Sport Court, situated in Zwide in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa, meant that eager children from Isaac Booi Primary School and the surrounding community could finally test out the court – which they had watched being built over the past few months.

The children will now be able to play netball, basketball, tennis and 5-a-side-soccer on it. Isaac Booi is an anchor school of United Through Sport’s Junior School of Excellence (JSE) Programme, which is based in Nelson Mandela Bay. The programme nurtures participants with ability and determination to give them access to extra academic education, sports coaching and personal development at after-school classes.

“Making a sustainable difference in the communities where United Through Sport works, is a core priority and we believe this Multi-Sport Court will continue to offer children a safe place to play sport - for years to come as a legacy project. The court not only benefits our programmes we run at the school, but it is also there for the enjoyment and benefit of all the learners at the school as well as the local community,” said United Through Sport Director Nick Mould.

To continue to develop children to the highest level and give them an opportunity to rise above their challenges, they need to have access to quality facilities to enable them to compete with their more affluent counterparts, Mould said.

A parallel JSE Programme is run at Astra Primary School, in Bethelsdorp which is also in Nelson Mandela Bay, where a Multi-Purpose AstroTurf, used for hockey and soccer training, was built by United Through Sport – with the help of various funders. The Multi-Purpose Astro Turf was launched in 2016.

United Through Sport is currently fundraising for a third Multi-Purpose Court for training activities at Astra Primary School. Children between the ages of 11 and 13, spend one to two years in United Through Sport’s JSE Programme - with the intention of preparing them more thoroughly for high school. Children from schools in the area surrounding Isaac Booi Primary School and Astra Primary School attend the sessions. The children are selected (150 in total) at the beginning of the year when they try out in the various sporting codes and undergo basic academic tests, to determine a placement in the JSE Programme.

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