More Technique Development Photos

* Tendai is feeling well enough to play ball!

Technique Development 15th November

*In these pictures our youngest girls are instructed on how to shoot

After warming up with Rejoyce the girls were separated into three groups to work on technique, posture and ball handling skills. Sandra enlisted two of the older girls whom she recognized from last weeks game to be strong shooters to teach our youngest members how to shoot. Rejoyce worked on teaching her group blocking/ offence skills, and Sandra concentrated on ball-handling skills.

*In this picture Rejoyce demonstrates “offense” techniques.

-The girls were then put into teams and played a short match, in which they put into practice the lessons they had learnt.

Our session ended on a fun note, this week we treated the girls to a snack of “fat cooks” and juice. It is very rewarding to see the smiles and hear the laughter. Our meeting only broke up because of gathering storm clouds, thunder and lightning!

Mentoring 15th November

It is vital that the girls be provided with role models and mentors to tutor and offer them with advice on sporting/ life skills. Rejoyce is a Red Cross volunteer who plays in a local women’s team and is the star shooter for her Midlands State University team. She has agreed to meet regularly with the girls, providing support and advice. She spoke to the girls on the importance of fitness and taught them proper stretching and warm up exercises. Her routine was grueling and the girls were SCREAMING with pain!

Introduction of Sandra Masiwa as Coach 15th November

After our talk on Team Building and Leadership, I introduced Sandra Masiwa to the girls in her capacity as coach. Sandra has been coaching netball for most of her adult life. She confesses to being passionate about the sport and its development, She has coached a wide variety of teams and age groups. She is also a recognized referee. Sandra will meet with the teams, provide technical advice to develop the players. She has joined EGT on a full time basis.

As a resident of Dombotombo, she is already familiar with many of the girls, because she referees school matches she also knows the girls from their school teams.

*In this picture Sandra (in the floral blue dress) advises on the correct posture when preparing to shoot. The Community Mothers look on in the background.

Team Building 15th November

Our Saturday Session concentrated on Team Building. Our intention is to develop 7 teams that will train and compete in a Round Robin. We intend to also identify our strongest players and form 2 teams that will compete against other clubs. As Administration, we have decided to allow the girls to make as many decisions concerning how the programme will run by themselves, to only offer advice and guidance where necessary. We thus asked the girls how they wanted the teams to be formulated giving them the following options:

-Teams based on age.
-Teams based on location.

The girls discussed it among themselves and came back with the option of forming teams based on wards (location), the reason being that it would be easier to meet, coordinate and arrange group training/ fitness sessions.

We spoke broadly about teamwork, and why it is an important social skill to be able to work well within a team. Our discussion progressed to include notes on leadership- we discussed what qualities we would look for in a leader, what functions the team leader would be responsible for and the process of selecting team leaders {Captains.}

I feel it important to note that while our programme focuses on providing disadvantaged children with the opportunity to play in a safe environment. We are also responsible for developing life skills and teaching the girls social awareness, we felt, bearing this in mind, that our team captains would not necessarily be selected from the best players, but that the girls should elect and vote for their team captains . It was decided that the girls would put forward names and that votes would be cast in next weeks Saturday Session.

Trust Building Activities Continued 8th November

“All Aboard”:

In this activity the girls were grouped into teams, we used chalk to demarcate an area in which the entire team is to fit. Gradually the space becomes smaller and the teams’ aim is to work together to ensure that every member is inside the boundary.

This exercise was beneficial in that it required the girls to work in close physical proximity as a team to solve a practical problem. As netball is a contact sport we felt it important that the girls learn to feel comfortable with touching and being close together.

Step1: Each girl stands comfortably, the only physical contact visible is between the girls who know each other well.

Step Two: As the space is reduced the girls come into closer contact, they all keep their arms close to their bodies.

Step three; The space becomes even smaller, the girls open out their arms

Step 4: Opting to carry each other

Step 5: Although the girls managed to fit in the area, they did not quite achieve physical closeness. If they had faced inwards with interlinked arms they would have saved more space.

First Lunch 8th November 2008

After the Trust Building Activities, the matches and the war cries it occurred to us that our girls would be hungry! The economic situation in Zimbabwe at present has seen many families resorting to providing only 1 meal a day, usually consisting of Sadza (a stiff maize porridge) and kale (a leafy green vegetable).

Needless to say the nutritional benefit of such a meal is grossly lacking. We have made a decision to supplement the girl’s diet by providing a protein rich meal whenever possible. We catered for our girls, the visiting team and several other community children whom we did not have the heart to turn away.

On the menu:
-Sadza
-Beef Stew
-Roast Potatoes
-Bean Stew
-Kale

First Match 8th November 2008

We played our first friendly match against a team from Dombotombo which is sponsored by MS, an organisation which incidentally, is also developing sport in disadvantaged communities). We chose our strongest players and formulated two teams (ages 9-12 and 13+}

Although we have the potential to form a strong side it was evident that our girls needed to build up their fitness levels and improve on their technique.

Unfortunately we lost both games, the older team losing 1-4 and the younger girls 1-9. It was an exciting day however and the girls had a wonderful time.

We are represented by the lime green bibs. (Patience and I decided that we would only unveil our uniform when we have firmly established an element of commitment from the girls and are performing as a team.)

Nyemudzai Garwe Administrator

EGT is administered by Nyemudzai Garwe, the third daughter of the late Edmund Garwe. Nyemudzai is a qualified Fashion Designer and Merchandising Manager. She is a mother of two sons and is based in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Nyemudzai is responsible for the day to day running of the Trust, planning and implementation of project goals. She is passionate about developing her home community and empowering the girl child.

Nyemudzai has always believed that being a woman provides one with a great deal of strength and has always fought for a woman's right to have choices. She is a strong believer in the power of education and the power to have freedoms: the freedom to chose and the freedom of independence. Nyemudzai believes that in order to make informed choices one has to have access to information and education. Her passion is to allow a girl child the freedom to make informed choices and to provide the girl child with alternatives. As a designer she does not see life as one dimensional but as a kaleidoscope of interwoven realities. She believes that the right to explore, to express and to be a child is a fundamental right. She believes that children should have all their rights and they should have a chance to exercise those rights. The child-head of household loses their childhood early and Nyemudzai would like them to have the access and ability to exercise their rights.

War Cries 8th November 2008

A netball team is made up of 7 players, we had an additional 3 girls acting as reserve players, a total of 10 girls per team. The remaining 30 girls supported our side by screaming war cries and doing tribal dances. I was pleasantly surprised to be informed that the girls had organised a drum for the occasion and developed our own personal war cry:

Lead: Edmund Garwe Trust
Refrain: “MORE FIRE!”