The interactive format of the road show sessions have been well received by the participants and the messaging focussing on physical
activity, nutrition, health awareness and general fitness has been absorbed by the eager children.

The Sporting Chance team together with Kellogg’s dieticians have visited the communities of Ocean View, Elsies River, Gugulethu, Langa, Manenberg, Masiphumelele , Mitchell’s Plain, Grassy Park and will finish off in Macassar this afternoon.

The 2011 Kellogg’s Health of the Nation project in association with SuperSport Let’s Play, Virgin Active and KIA Motors with radio partners Good Hope fm, is a Four Phase programme that highlights the importance of physical activity and leading a healthy lifestyle.

Phase 1: the Health Education road show has ensured the children are well prepared to take part in Phase 2: the Kellogg’s Health of the Nation: 50 hour sports challenge and Phase 3: the Research Testing (Phase 3) this coming weekend at WPCC Sports Centre.

Look forward to seeing you there…

KELLOGG’S HEALTH OF THE NATION: 50 HOUR SPORTS CHALLENGE

14h00, Friday 16^th to 16h00, Sunday 18^th September 2011

WPCC Sports Centre, Rondebosch

The 2011 Kellogg’s Health of the Nation project in association with SuperSport Let’s Play, Virgin Active and KIA Motors with radio partners Good Hope fm, is a Four Phase programme that highlights the importance of physical activity and leading a healthy lifestyle.

The Ocean View community are participating in the Kellogg’s Health of the Nation for the first time, which meant they were all eager to be a part of the action. Phase 1: The Health Education road show takes the format of engaged learning, with the participants being divided into sub groups and spending 15-20 minutes at four activity zones as follows:

1. PHYSICAL ACTIVITY: This zone highlights the importance of physical activity through a series of fun exercises & drills including shuttles runs, sit  ups, push ups and hand-eye coordination exercises. Variations of the conventional drills focus on emphasising the enjoyment of physical activity with the participants competing in: Sack Races – increase lower body strength; Ball and spoon races – increase hand eye co-ordination; Wheel barrow races – increase upper body strength; Sprint races – increase in speed off the mark; Shuttle races – increase in endurance

2. NUTRITION: This zone is facilitated by Kellogg’s dieticians and highlights the importance of eating a balanced diet & making healthy food choices. The activity includes a workshop focusing on food groups and the benefits attached.

3. HEALTH EDUCATION: This zone focussed on personal hygiene and the importance of washing hands, brushing teeth, keeping your body clean with emphasis on its relation to preventing TB etc. When? Why? and How? we should we carry out this daily routine.

4. FITNESS SPECIFIC: This zone focuses on specialised activities that advise participants on specific exercises to improve their sporting abilities. Through this participants are introduced to the scientific research testing that will take place at the Kellogg’s Health of the Nation: 50 hour sports challenge.

The session concluded with a group ‘Question and Answer’ session to illustrate the life skills discussed before all participants were part of a vibe dance in preparation for their participation in Phase 2: Kellogg’s Health of the Nation 50 hour sports challenge next week.

Day 2 of the road show saw the team visit Gugulethu where the participants from the schools excitedly gathered at NY49 to be a part of the Kellogg’s Health of the Nation project.

Look forward to sharing the rest of the week’s activities…

With this is mind the Sporting Chance Development Foundation aims to run sports coaching clinics to keep the children occupied, away from social evils, and to continue to achieve their mission of promoting physical activity and giving children a ‘Sporting Chance’.

This week the Sporting Chance team joined experienced coaches from the Khayelitsha community to host a multi sport holiday coaching clinic for over 150 participants from the surrounding schools. Boys and girls aged 8 – 14 years were eager to be a part of the action and the clinic was oversubscribed with children participating in soccer, netball and rugby.

Sports skills was not the only focus of the clinics as life skills specifically sports etiquette and taking responsibility were emphasised by the coaching staff. Registration was efficient and those that were not there on day one could unfortunately not participate for the rest of the week unless they had a feasible excuse. The idea behind this lesson is that one’s commitment must be evident from the beginning and those children that followed the instructions were those that were rewarded. It’s a difficult lesson to learn, but one that has seen results as Sporting Chance’s prides itself on structure and discipline.

The weekly programme included new skills, innovative coaching drills and fun games and the team of coaches and children worked hard throughout the week. The programme ended off with mini tournaments within the respective sports codes today and each participant was then rewarded with an energy drink, hotdog and a Sporting Chance prize.

Thanks to our Sporting Chance sponsors Flip File, Sportsmans Warehouse, GM, Second Skins, BIC and SuperSport Let’s Play for their support of Sporting Chance, which allowed us to give all participants a t-shirt and a prize.

Special appreciation to the Solstice Foundation for their investment into the Sporting Chance Development Foundation, which made this coaching clinic possible and we look forward to future programmes.

Mamelodi won the Gauteng Provincial Final of the KIA Street Soccer programme, which took place on Moloto Street in Dobsonville, Soweto on Youth Day (16th June). Mamelodi beat fellow Tshwane community Atteridgeville in the closely contested final to secure the coveted KIA Street Soccer Trophy.  Earlier in the week (14th June) players from Umlazi scooped poll position in the KwaZulu-Natal provincial final, which took place on the streets of KwaMashu. 

Since the beginning of the tournament, which kicked off mid April, Youth sports development agency Sporting Chance, with the support of title sponsor KIA Motors and associate sponsors Foodzone, Dawn Wing and Supersport Let’s Play, has rolled out the neighbourhood street soccer programme in streets in and around Durban, Johannesburg, Tshwane, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth as part of FIFA’s Ticket Fund legacy. The KIA Street Soccer League was created as one of the tiers of the Ticket Fund initiative as a means of adding sustainability to the programme and 4 500 boys and girls under the age of 13 of that have taken to the streets throughout South

 Africa in recent weeks to play the ‘beautiful game’.

According to Brad Bing of Sporting Chance, who conceptualised and co-ordinates the programme, being healthy and keeping active are additional critical life skills taught by the programme, and for the first phase, a Health Education Road Show visited all the participating communities leading up to the second phase – the start of the league.

In addition to activities designed to show and share the importance of physical activity, nutrition, personal hygiene and TB awareness, the sessions also covered key issues of sports etiquette, conflict resolution, and environmental awareness, encouraging learners to take pride in their environment and recycle.

Umlazi take the Kwa Zulu Natal title for 2nd year!

The project has also created contractual employment for 800 coaches.

“Street Soccer not only provides a platform for children to display their football skills and sporting prowess, but also gives an opportunity to build self-esteem while at the same time learning about the importance of good health,” said Bing.

Mamelodi the 2011 Gauteng champions!

Two more provincial finals take place this week in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth (21 June) and in Grassy Park in Cape Town (24 June).

For more information contact Natalie Pollock at Sporting Chance on 021 683 7299, log onto www.sportingchance.co.za, or join facebook.com/sportingchance for regular updates.

For the past five weeks more than 3000 young learners from 11 regions including Mitchell’s Plain, Manenberg, Gugulethu, Langa, Ocean View, Masipumelele, Elsies River, Khayelitsha and Macassar have taken to the streets, to compete in the 2010 Sporting Chance Street Cricket League.

The Sporting Chance Street Cricket League, in association with Disney, Grand West CSI and the HCI Foundation, is in its seventh successful season and according to event organiser Brad Bing of Sporting Chance, the youth sports development agency that launched the street cricket league in 2003, the initiative has enjoyed unprecedented success since its humble beginnings as a pilot project in Langa.

Western Cape Minister of Cultural Affairs and Sport, Dr Ivan Meyer, who attended the finals, applauded the initiative. “Projects like this show children the value of sport whilst bringing communities and cultures together. Sports development is very important to the Western Cape and initiatives like this really add value to our communities,” said Dr Meyer.

Bing concurs. “The communities are filled with sports mad children and the street cricket league allows them to be actively involved in cricket and the enjoyment that goes with it, in their very own neighbourhoods.”

Regional cricket clubs and sports organisations in association with Sporting Chance organise children under 11 into street teams of ten. At least two members of each team must be girls and all must have attended school throughout the year prior to the start of the tournament – all part of Sporting Chance’s philosophy of getting as many children irrespective of race, gender or social class, off the streets and into the sporting environment.

“They don’t like cricket, they love it,” jokes Bing, who also adds that the tournament is more than ‘just a game’. “Up to a certain age, all boys and girls should ideally be exposed to sport and research has shown that you develop your habits by the age of 12,” says Bing. “If you’re not playing sport or leading an active and healthy lifestyle by then, the chances are that sport and being physically active will not feature in your adult lifestyle.”

Heidi Abrahams of GrandWest CSI adds. “By introducing children to an active lifestyle we aim to provide them with healthy alternatives to drugs and crime,” says Abrahams. “We want to get children playing in the annual street cricket tournament and encourage them to enjoy the fun of sport and avoid the temptations of drugs and crime that plague our youth of today.”

“The children in these communities face various challenges,” says Disney’s Amanda D’halluin. “This tournament gives them an opportunity to be part of a team and belong to something – all children want that sense of ‘belonging’ and if we can provide them with valuable programmes and projects, perhaps we can lessen the weight of their challenging environments.”

For more information on the matches contact Brad Bing on 021 683 7299 or events@sportingchance.co.za or visit www.sportingchance.co.za.

On a magnificent Thursday 12^th February afternoon in 33 degrees heat, children from various schools in Khayelitsha attended a cricket coaching clinic hosted by the Solstice Foundation and Sporting Chance at the Khayelitsha Sports Stadium.

On arrival the children were taken through a warm up by our experienced coaches. After the warm up they were divided into respective age groups and designated a coach. During the clinic they rotated through the different cricket skill stations to ensure they got an understanding of everything cricket has to offer. Despite the heat, the coaches were full of enthusiasm and passed on as much knowledge as possible. Through this clinic 2 Sporting Chance coaches Bulelani Menze and Vuyani Parafini, have built up a relationship with the schools that attended and have volunteered their services to coach these children on a weekly basis.

Everyone who participated left with a huge smile on their face! Once again thanks to the Solstice Foundation for making this clinic possible and for assisting Sporting Chance in achieving their mission of giving every child a “Sporting Chance.”

Friday 6^th February, 150 young and enthusiastic cricketers had an active and exciting start to their weekend, when they got the opportunity to participate in a cricket clinic hosted by Solstice Foundation together with Sporting Chance at the Avonwood Sports Complex in Elsies River.

The cricket skills of the children varied considerably and all benefited from the specialised coaching received from the Sporting Chance coaching team. The participants were divided into groups to ensure they received individual attention to work on their skills.

The day was a great success and thoroughly enjoyed by all involved. To end the day the participants received a well deserved cool drink and snack and went home with a lot more knowledge of the game of cricket and additional life skills.

Special thanks to the Solstice Foundation for making these clinics possible and for assisting us to develop the young cricketers in this disadvantaged community.

Gale force winds at the Greens sports field in Manenberg on Friday 13^th February did not stop young and enthusiastic cricketers from attending a cricket coaching clinic hosted by the Solstice Foundation and organized by Sporting Chance.

The Participants were from last years Street Cricket league which took place in October and November in Manenberg.

On arrival the participants went through warm up drills and were then divided into respective groups focusing on the various skills stations of batting, bowling, fielding, wicket keeping and the off side mini game.

Sporting Chance coaches kept a very close eye on each of the participants and spotted some excellent talent. Bulelani Menze a Sporting Chance coach and wicket keeper for Western Province CC said, “Manenberg will be a big contender for this year’s annual Street Cricket league as there is an abundance of talent.”

After a few hours in windy conditions the participants were given a short talk on the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle and being physically active as well as being involved in their local sports club.

Many thanks to the Solstice Foundation for their continuous support to assist Sporting Chance to make a difference in so many communities.

On Wednesday 11^th February 2009, 100 aspiring young cricketers attended a cricket clinic held at the Langa Cricket Stadium hosted by the Solstice Foundation and Sporting Chance. 150 cricketers were expected but unfortunately due to the taxi violence two schools, Zimasa Primary and Siyabulela Primary could not attend.

However, the rest of the children enjoyed an action packed afternoon of cricket where they rotated between the different skills stations of batting, bowling, fielding, wicket keeping and offside games. The cricket talent in Cape Town’s oldest township was evident and one could see that cricket talent is definitely in the Tsolekile blood as we watched former SA, WP and Cobras cricketer, Thami Tsolekile’s young cousin Fufu Tsolekile in action. “There is definitely some great talent in Langa and a clear love for the game of cricket” said Mark Khoabane WP under 15 cricket coach.

At the end of the session the children were given a well deserved cool drink and snack.

A big thank you must go to the Solstice Foundation for making this clinic possible and for helping Sporting Chance develop the young sportsmen in our communities.