New Project: Community Sports League

My community counterpart and I came up with an idea to start an Adult Sports league. My original vision was a sports league for adults that would:
- be held one night a week on a weeknight
- be exclusively for people 18+
- require all of the participants to come sober
- rotate sports throughout the year so there would be seasons for each sport
- include a discussion about HIV/AIDS and community concerns
- close with an alcohol-free brai (what Americans call a barbecue)
- have participating parents go to host afterschool activities for the children at each of the school

The operation of the sports part was similar to what I've seen with recreational sports leagues in the U.S. with the addition of the discussion and leading of groups.

I held a meeting with my senior educator/sports coordinator, my community counterpart, and another community member to discuss the idea. After an hour discussion we came up with a similar plan that had a lot of their input. The new plan calls for:

- The league will be for all ages
- Teams will be formed by each school composed of their learners and parents
- Tuesdays from 3-5 there will be a practice held at each school independent of the other schools
- Wednesdays from 1:30 to 3:00 is sports day(this already exists as part of the regular school program) and parents from each school will assist in the coaching and monitoring
- Fridays 3-5 competitions will be held between schools with the teams consisting of both parents and children
- A brai will be held fortnightly (I didn't know that this meant every 2 weeks until just recently) after the Friday competitions
- During the brai, a discussion on HIV/AIDS or community concerns will be held
- Participants are required to be sober and no alcohol will be served at the event
- Regular match play will occur during each school term
- A championship tournament will take place during the first week of at the end of each term to determine the league champion. Awards will be given to the winners. This will give them a goal and an opportunity to be recognized for their achievements.

Right now we don't have the facilities or equipment to support a full out tournament which makes an even stronger argument for the Vezubuhle Schools' Sports Fields and Playground project. At the end of that project each school will have the facilities to support these types of events.

Sudden Realization: This new scope leaves out adults who don't have children in school which is another group of people I intended to reach. Maybe they can form their own teams and compete in the tournament at the end of each term.

We meet on Monday before the initial Tuesday practice so I can give them an update and bring it to their attention.

The many differences between the two plans is proof of the importance of involving community members in projects. As shown in many other communities, plans that are formed and carried out unilaterally are likely to fail and end up having to be fixed with another solution.