We arrived at the learning centre ready for our 2nd session with Maja Crèche, they were a good group of kids last week and we were looking forward to the session. The group arrived slightly late but full of energy, after our little chat we do with all the kids we went straight into huddles, a game we had tried with mix success at Goodwood. It started slowly but as it went on and with help from the teacher and parent the kids managed to do okay. We then attempted domes and dishes with a football, last time we tried it the wind blew all the cones away, this time we were inside and the kids manage to understand the concept, but couldn't get what the hang of what way around they had to turn the cones. We then moved onto the rolling a ball in a circle game, the kids out here all seem to love it, they then went onto the knocking the ball off the cone part of the game which was really good. Our time was up and of course we ended with lots of high 5s and shouts of ARSENAL!!!
We then had a 4hour gap so we sat around the learning centre checking emails, uploading photos and helping people that need our help. Some people just don't know how to use the Internet so we are there to just give them a hand. Some people want business help or help with getting a job, this is part of our community work here and it's nice that we can be of some help. We then sorted out some games for the games evening tomorrow, in the bag was a table tennis set, the table was already set so it would have been rude not to have a game, after starting slowly I managed to narrowly lose 3 games to 2 against Harry, but the real winner was Joe 3 games undefeated an unbelievable serve that neither of us saw coming.
We left for our 2nd visit of JG Meiring, we were looking forward to this session as it went really well last week. We turned up to find out we had a different age group this week but roughly the same kids which was good because we had planned a session around that size group. We went with a shooting practice, we aren't here long and we want the groups we train to have some fun but also to get something out of the session, most kids like to have a shot. We started off with a simple drill that involved 1 person laying off a shot, the other taking the shot and the 3rd guy running in for the rebound. Great group of boys, full of enthusiasm and all gave it a go, I'm going to give them an excuse and say the wind was awful and the balls weren't great, but in all honesty the majority of shots didn't even work the keeper and the balls were going everywhere. After seeing this we went onto a game called over the bar, it's like a game of cricket, you bowl the ball, the person at the front takes a shot, if the ball goes in its a point, if it is caught they are out. They seemed to enjoy the game but with only 3 goals and few shots it's clear they could benefit from a few more of these sessions. We ended with a game and they asked if we could join in, you don't have to ask us twice. After 15 minutes of play and summing up the session the game ended 1-0 to my team, my second victory over Harry so far.
Onto our 3rd session of the day, we had originally been scheduled to go to Edmead but after Harry and I had spoken to their coach the other night we realised there had been a mix up and we wasn't needed there at all. Joe phoned around and got us a replacement club, at first we were slightly disappointed as we were looking forward to having the evening off but we both agreed that it would be good. We met up with Kurt, Table Views coach who we were to follow to Table view as we had no idea of where to go. We wouldn't be taking his team but another group he just wanted to get involved. We managed to get stuck in loads of traffic, long enough for Harry to fall asleep, I'm tempted to put on a picture I took of him sleeping. We arrived slightly late and the coach had already done a warm up, we were introduced to the 36 under 14s and under 15 boys. The space we had wasn't quite big enough to do what we planned so we chose to go with our tried and tested possession session, it's always good to have a session you can use anytime, anywhere, just incase you turn up and things aren't as planned. Like the majority of groups we've had they got stuck in and were really into what we were doing. What we've found with these boys in Cape Town is that they are very well behaved, very disciplined with lots of enthusiasm and energy. Oh and everything is yes coach, no coach, thank you coach, so polite. We ended with some small sided games which were played in the RAIN yes we had a little down pour, it felt like we were home. The session came to an end and we exchanged numbers with Kurt, he has offered to take us out out, as a thank you for today, will definitely take him up on his offer.
Well that's me for today I think I've gone on long enough. Keep reading, we are now a quarter of our way through our African adventure.
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