Polokwane Youth Sport Forum Launched

We are proud to announce that a Youth Sport Forum has been established in Polokwane, following a workshop we held there on the 31st of July. With the support of Tshika Pitjeng, the Limpopo Department of Sport and YDF-GTZ were able to present our streetsoccer and Life’s a Ball programmes. The eight local youths pictured below now want to establish streetsoccer leagues using the Life Skill Score Card before the end of the year. In 2010 their ambition is to launch Life’s a Ball at several local schools, in particular to address crime, sex education and drug abuse combined with sport skills.

Please don’t hesitate to contact Altus if you know of potential members or sponsors for this brilliant new initiative!

German Minister Visits Us in Mamelodi !

Exactly one week after this highly appreciated visit from Sri Lanka, Altus Sport had to plan the next big event. This time we had the pleasure to welcome the German minister for economical corporation and development, Mrs. Wieczorek-Zeul. On her trip to South Africa she also paid a visit to the Mahlasedi Masana Primary School in Mamelodi. For this visit  Altus Sport presented an event with more or less 90 boys and girls  which should clearly give a valuable insight of what  Life’s a Ball programme is all about.  Through this event Mrs. Wieczorek-Zeul was clearly shown that Altus Sport Vuma is using sport as a tool to equip the learners with knowledge about life problems and values and to let them think critically about them. At the soccer pitch the Youth Leaders demonstrated Streetsoccer and implemented the Life Skill Score card which relates to Fair Play and Respect.
Thanks to our Youth Leaders and Volunteers, the event turned out very well and Mrs. Wieczorek-Zeul, who received  an  Altus Sport teddy bear as a present, got a very good impression and insight of the aims and missions of the work Altus Sport Vuma is doing.

Since Mrs. Wieczorek-Zeul is the developer of the German volunteering project “Weltwaerts”, she was very keen to speak to the four Altus volunteers Anja, Marieke, Anatol and Isabel who are doing a volunteering year.

Holiday Events

During the winter school holidays, several events provided and organized by the Youth Leaders of Altus Sport took place in the townships around Gauteng. The main purpose of the events was to create days of fun, sport and positive experiences for the kids. The learners visibly enjoyed the activities which the Youth Sport Forum members had prepared for their participants. Especially the balloon and wheelbarrow races were a great success!

Olympic Fun Day 2009

To celebrate the spirit of true sportsmanship with kids from across Southern Africa, the Olympic Fun Day was held on the 26th of June in Klipkruisfontein at Gontse Primary School. As part of GTZ’s “Let’s Confed” initiative,16 delegations with boys and girls from around South Africa and from several other countries were invited to experience a day full of sport and fun. Each team represented either an African country or a country which takes part in the Confederations Cup and prepared a short presentation about important things concerning this country. Congratulations to the team of the Siamisang Primary School from Winterveldt, that won a thousand rand for the best presentation! Besides soccer and basketball, the kids could also enjoy themselves at fun games like broomhockey and various races as egg&spoon race and sack race.

Thanks to the help of our Youth Leaders and to the support of the teachers, the event was a big success!

HILLBROW STREETSOCCER

The Youth Sport Leaders, DED volunteers and the Ekhaya Neighborhood youth presented a Streetsoccer and Life Skills event to the kids of Hillbrow. Sixteen teams, boys and girls, participated – all aged between 8 – 15 years. A streetsoccer tournament was held as well as Life Skill games were played which created the opportunity to speak to the kids regarding values such as friendship and respect. The Ekhaya youths did a role play on the value respect – raping is out! Thanks to Patricia and her team for the local arrangements.