Reach 2007

Soweto

reachteam — Sun, 8 Apr 2007 17:55:00 GMT

The last stop before the airport was in Jo'Burg. We spent our free day having a tour of Soweto. We visited lots of places of historical interest including Mandela's house and Tutu's house just down the road. The only street in the world to produce two Nobel Peace Prize winners! We also visited the Hector Pieterson memorial and sampled some local cuisine.

Rustenburg

reachteam — Fri, 6 Apr 2007 10:49:00 GMT

The final village we coached in was at Rustenburg. We coached at the sports stadium and invited local kids to visit. There were kids from the local soccer, netball, basketball and cricket teams. We donated the equipment to the SOS Village and also to a few of the local sports teams.

Garden Route

reachteam — Wed, 4 Apr 2007 18:54:00 GMT

We left Cape Town and headed along the south coast towards George along the Garden Route.

A notable highlight along the way was our stay in the beautiful university town of Stellenbosch were we sampled the pleasures of the local wine farms.

There was plenty of beautiful scenery along the way. And after checking into our self-catered accommodation we had the chance to enjoy a great home-cooked meal. The following day was spent at leisure on the beach before a flight back to Jo'Burg.

Cape Town

reachteam — Mon, 2 Apr 2007 21:46:00 GMT

We stayed in a backpacker hostel not far from the waterfront. It was a beautiful city to visit - the highlights being the trip to Cape Point and the top of table mountain. We coached at the Cape Town SOS Village and donated kit to them and a local township.

Nelspruit

reachteam — Sun, 1 Apr 2007 18:53:00 GMT

The second village we visited was near Nelspruit. The SOS children were joined by other local kids for the coaching at the nearby soccer stadium. It was a fantastic day and we donated our equipment to the village and some soccer balls to the local team after.

Kruger National Park

reachteam — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 20:19:00 GMT

We headed from Jo'burg to Kruger National Park were we stayed in self catering huts. A 4.30am start for a safari ensured that we saw 4 of the big 5 (missed the lion) and also giraffes and zebras. We then relaxed in the afternoon and headed to Nelspruit SOS Village the following day.

Gallery: Nelspruit Village

reachteam — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 10:33:00 GMT

SOS Children's Village

Gallery: Kruger

reachteam — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 17:20:00 GMT

National Park and Safari

Ennerdale

reachteam — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 18:17:00 GMT

The first village we visited was Ennerdale near Jo'burg. We had a baptism of fire, coaching 100 children ranging from ages 3-18.

Gemma and Beth coped with a strong demand for their netball prowess, narrowly avoiding a free-for-all in a rather physical end of session match. However all the girls complemented them on their delivery and content.

Chas and Ali inevitably proved the most popular as football is a religion in South Africa, especially at a site less than 10km from the construction site of the 2010 World Cup Final. 'Chaston, pass us the ball' was a popular cry.

Pete and Mark gained the most positive feedback on their mixture of fun and serious games ('heroes' and 'legends'), whilst Dave and Nick captured the excitement of the Cricket World Cup - although, not helped by the thrashing South Africa received the previous day. Em and Sarah organised the little ones and tried to avoid massacre by chalk as the kids lined up to paint by numbers on their faces.

All the kit was donated and gladfully received. It will go towards the village and community projects. The team were also gladly welcomed and mobbed by the kids, treated to a tour of the village by an SOS Mother and served a traditional lunch in one of the SOS houses.

Clare and Ed supervised the day, Ed more successfully than Clare, who twisted her ankle on the netball court and is still hobbling.

Gallery: Arrival in South Africa

reachteam — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 20:02:00 GMT

Arrival

reachteam — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 19:12:00 GMT

The Reach Team arrived in South Africa on Friday 23rd March in Jo'Burg. We spent the first evening watching the domestic 20/20 cricket final and the next day visited the Apartheid Museum. That evening we watched a Super 14 rugby game.

We also bought the first batch of sports equipment to donate to the Ennerdale Village which we were visiting on the Sunday.

Gallery: Reach Week

reachteam — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 04:07:00 GMT

Fundraising

Reach Week

reachteam — Mon, 5 Mar 2007 15:23:00 GMT

During February the Reach Team hosted a series of fundraising events. The week started with a 24 hour cycle and press launch outside the students union. Other events included, speed dating, an exercise class, a dodgeball tournament, the Reach Bop and a 5 aside tournament. On completion of the week we have reached our target of £15,00 for SOS Children's Villages. If you would like to donate please visit http://www.justgiving.com/reach2007

Check out the photos from Reach Week in the Reach Week gallery.

3 Peaks Challenge

reachteam — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 13:00:00 GMT

As part of the fundraising efforts the Reach Team completed the Yorkshire 3 peaks challenge. 23 miles over mountainous terrain! Thanks to the orienteering club that navigated, without them we'd be lost. The Photos are in the 3 Peaks gallery.

About Reach

reachteam — Thu, 1 Feb 2007 15:05:00 GMT

'Reach 2007: South Africa, Educating through Sport’ is a charity project that is being undertaken by student members of the University of Manchester SPORT department. It has the full backing of SPORT, SOS Children's Villages Charity and several other sporting and corporate organisations. The project is focused around the belief that by engaging children in enjoyable physical activity they develop a multitude of skills, including among others teamwork, communication and leadership. By gaining these skills it is hoped that these children will become greater assets to their communities and enable them to enjoy a brighter future. Fundraising for Reach 2007: South Africa will take on many forms and will be a regular occurrence around the university campus and in the local community. A large majority of the student body will participate in one or more fundraising events. At the culmination of a year of fundraising, the 12 elected students who have coordinated all activities on campus will spend 2 weeks over the Easter break in South Africa. There they will see first-hand the benefits of their efforts and will conduct a series of coaching days at the SOS Children's Villages. To assure that the project leaves a lasting legacy in the villages the equipment that the students have used to coach will be left in the SOS Children's Villages.