Back to Index

Hoops 4 Hope - South Africa and Zimbabwe
Hoops Africa
April 14, 2005

http://www.hoopsafrica.org/H4Hlifeskills.html

Hoops 4 Hope's Mission:
Hoops 4 Hope is a not-for-profit organization that supports youth development in Zimbabwe and South Africa by working with schools, shelters, and community organizations.

Hoops 4 Hope provides the most basic tools that young people need to play team sports and face the many challenges of growing up in communities plagued with poverty, crime, and HIV/AIDS. We build basketball courts, organize leagues, distribute athletic equipment collected from around the United States, run coaching clinics, organize tournaments, supply financial assistance for team travel, host international basketball coaches and players, and provide children with a safe, nurturing environment in which they develop more than just skills for the court, they develop SKILLS 4 LIFE!

SKILLS 4 LIFE is the H4H Life Skills program. Life Skills are acquired or developed skills or tools that help a person be successful in Life. This extends from knowing how to brush your teeth to being able to use language effectively. Both are Life Skills because both help us achieve success in our lives, but in very different ways.

There are Life Skills that are needed by specific groups because of their culture or where they live. There are also essential Life Skills that we all need that may not be taught at school or by parents. These are the kind of Life Skills that SKILLS 4 LIFE is concerned with. Though young people face very specific challenges because of their culture and where they live, we believe that by focusing our efforts on the Life Skills that are essential to all people, we are providing them with the important tools they need to develop a strong and positive character, so they will be equipped to make healthy positive choices.

Of all of the challenges young people face, HIV/AIDS is certainly the most frightening. It is literally a matter of life or death. But as devastating as this disease is, it is just one of life’s challenges they face. Poverty, crime, and lack of proper education are obstacles they must confront each day. Add in the difficulties that all young people face such as peer pressure, family and identity issues, and these challenges become truly formidable. We must empower them to develop to their fullest potential. This is what SKILLS 4 LIFE is all about!

About HOOPS 4 HOPE:
Since 1995, HOOPS 4 HOPE (H4H), a global not-for-profit organization, has supported youth development throughout southern Africa by providing more than 10,000 school-age children with our Basketball/Life Skills program. Using sport as a vehicle for social and personal change, H4H empowers children to become productive adults, engage in healthy lifestyles, and become leaders within their communities and the world. Our extensive network of partnering schools, children’s shelters, and community groups helps get kids off the street.

Basketball and other team sports provide an infrastructure where social skills can develop. Young people in our programs learn that the skills they will develop playing sports extend well beyond the playing field and are applicable to life’s challenges. Life Skills are any acquired techniques that help an individual deal successfully with his or her own life.

Organized sports encourage more than healthy competition; they help erase racial boundaries. Sports unite adults and children from different backgrounds. Moreover, the trust that develops between coaches and the young people they mentor provides an opportunity for discussion of the crucial issues that affect their lives every day.

Why Basketball?
From urban playgrounds across the United States to the rural Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe to crowded townships in South Africa, there is basketball. Played and shared and loved. It is truly a global game! Technology feeds the world’s hunger for the game by sending highlights from the National Basketball Association (NBA) across the globe, and those images have sparked dreamers of all ages, races, and religions. Countless exciting games are being played at this very moment on streets, dirt roads, mountain tops, and in schoolyards around the world.

Basketball helps break down racial and economic boundaries by bringing young people together on a neutral playing field, where dedication and teamwork are the qualities that make one excel--not social standing or group affiliation.

Basketball’s secret weapon is the Team Coach. A good coach is much more than just a sports teacher: He/she is a mentor, a role model, an older person who cares and who can give a youth the support they need to build Life Skills as well as court skills. The trust that can develop between a coach and a young person can be the bedrock for significant personal growth. For many young people, the basketball court is the perfect place to cultivate the discipline that will help them achieve success in other parts of their lives.

Where we are:
H4H runs programs in Zimbabwe and South Africa. In cooperation with schools, community organizations, and children’s shelters, H4H reaches over 10,000 children a year.

Zimbabwe:
This year, our staff of 15 coordinators ran programs in 75 schools located in 15 different communities. We trained over 200 coaches and teachers and hosted hundreds of games and exciting tournaments for more than 5,000 children.

South Africa:
H4H coordinators, along with local and international volunteers, work with schools and community groups to deliver our basketball and life-skills programs. This year, we conducted over 100 clinics (averaging 50 children at each), organized games between communities, hosted exciting tournaments, and trained more than 30 coaches in basketball and Life Skills education.

For more information contact:

South Africa:
Offices of Ikamva Labantu
Hoops 4 Hope
P.O. Box 165
160 Sir Lowry Rd.
Cape Town 8000
South Africa
Director: Thierry Kita
Email: thierrykita@yahoo.com
Phone: (021) 461-8338
Fax: (021) 461-6823

Zimbabwe:
Hoops 4 Hope Trust Center
19 Bates St.
Milton Park, Harare
Zimbabwe
Director: Ngoni Mukukula
Email: nmukukula@yahoo.com
Phone: 091-404-067

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP