I had such a great experience in running the Mixed Gender League (MGL) for the first time. At first, I was very nervous because I wasn't familiar with the coaching. But, after the first week, my coaching skills truly improved.

The MGL kids behaved well and each day they learned life skills and improved their behaviour on and off the pitch. Most of the kids came to WhizzKids feeling shy and scared. But, after a few days, the kids became familiar and opened up to each other. For example, a 16-year old, HIV-positive girl was shy and quiet during the first week. Yet, as time went by, she got used to the other MGL players, played extremely well and made so many friends.

The most important thing that we did with the participating youth was to work with the players before each game to teach them about life skills and health education. I used the WhizzKids United "On the Ball" Life Skills, three session manual which helped me to tie in the sport of football with youth development. For example, I was able to tackle issues such setting life goals and HIV & AIDS prevention through football drills of shooting, defense and ball control. 

We had 8 teams compete in our MGL and three winning teams rose to the top. Each of the three teams were rewarded with medals for their outstanding play. In addition, we also presented a trophy to two of our budding players, one male and one female, for being the leading scorers of our league. The action from the league really made children from the community excited and eager to join the MGL in the future! The MGL kids really enjoyed their experience of learning through the sport of football. And so did I!

Written by Simphiwe Zuma (20.1.12)