Having recruited girls from 4 schools surrounding the Red location museum we estimated that each school would more or less yield about 30 girls each. This estimate proved pretty accurate, but not exactly. Some of the schools had a lot less girls but the numbers were made up by other girls who we didn't recruit, they heard about the program somehow and here they were, playing and partipating! One school insisted that a teacher accompany the girls to the museum after school (our program starts at 2:00p.m, right after school) and so 25 girls did not attend Practice 1 of Skillz Street. We still had 111 girls show up, which was a great turnout considering our recruiting concerns early in this process.
Truth be told the start was a bit of a mess, because we needed to wait for everyone to arrive, and girls sauntered onto the pitch from different directions, some in their school uniform, while others had managed to change. The sun, accompanied by a typical Port Elizabeth gust made for a very hot day.
We ended up starting 40 minutes after our proposed start time of 2:00p.m. but I was delighted to see the large number of girls that had committed to participating. The opening circle was led by one of our coaches who introduced the rest of the coaches and led an energizer with all the kids.
Although concerns about fatigued school kids coming to our program in the unrelenting sun came up, the enthusiasm if the girls gave us the answer we needed and I think our staff and coaches fed off of the energy coming from the kids, I know I did.
Once we divided the teams between the coaches there was a lot more order to the day. The ladies played a game of bingo in order to get familiar with their team mates (they were divided into teams of 10) and then they went into Fairplay football. Fairplay football emphasizes player power and responsibilitries. Both teams meet at the beginning of the game and decide on 2 or 3 Fair play rules that both teams must adhere to. Examples of rules include: "No swearing; Help an injured player up and No fighting."
The girls were very enthusiastic in their play, and although there were various levels of play on show, it was clear that all the girls were happy get an opportunity to play the game. I have no doubt that all the girls will return Wednesday, I think we started Skillz Street on a high note, I just hope our program has a real impact on these young ladies.
*In response to overwhelming research promoting the value of girls’ participation in sport, coupled with the need for effective HIV prevention, GRS launched “Skillz Street” in early 2010. A girls-targeted intervention, Skillz Street combines an activities-based HIV prevention and life skills curriculum with fair play soccer and peer-led community outreach activities.
Led by GRS’ community role models, Skillz Coaches, and enhanced by the unique culture developed within Skillz programs, this girl-centered initiative creates a safe space for adolescent girls to play non-competitive soccer, take action in their community, and have vital conversations about HIV and AIDS.
In Port Elizabeth GRS has established a partnership with the Red location museum allowing the coaches to utilize field space in front of the museum. The museum chronicles the harsh realities faced by the anti-apartheid movement and now through Skillz street, it will play host to a movement that is striving to deal with one of the harshest realities of today.
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