Basketball

Ant asked us volunteers to plan an activity one Thursday with the kids from Muizenberg Beach Club. The first thing that popped into my head was basketball! I play basketball back home in Sweden for the team KFUM Ludvika. Freddie, another volunteer from Sweden, have also played basketball. That’s why I thought we could make a really fun afternoon playing with the kids and teaching them a bit about the game. At the beginning of the week we went into Fish Hoek to buy a basketball for MBC. We thought it was a great gift to buy for the kids!

Joe trying to score

Thursday came and with the ball under my arm and in a really good mood we went to pick up the kids and drive them to the basketball court. When the kids see the minibus they always run towards it with the biggest smiles on their faces. Today was no different – the kids jumped into the car after giving me the usual high five, excited for today’s activity. When we arrived and started to organise the game, some of the kids were a bit skeptical. Soccer is normally the kids’ favourite sport and a few didn’t really want to play basketball, but everyone agreed to give it a shot and after a short while all of them were playing with us, trying their best!

Siminkiwe ready for the rebound!

I think that everyone enjoyed it because it was something new instead of the usual soccer game on Thursdays. Before I got here I thought that every kid here would know how to play basketball and that it’d be really popular, but it turned out to be the complete opposite. Basketball doesn’t seem to be especially big here in South Africa. Soccer, rugby and cricket are the most common sports here. The kids always talk about soccer and the Kaizer Chiefs being the best team – a lot of them wear orange and black jerseys with the team logo on it.

Happy to be back on the court!

I’m so happy about the way the day turned out. It was such a fun day playing basketball with the kids. The thing I miss the most about Sweden is absolutely playing basketball back home with my team-mates. I hope we’ll play some more before I go back to Sweden!

/ Anton, volunteer from Sweden