On 26 November, there was a lot going on at the sports field in Utawala, Kenya. PlayHandball Kenya organised the first sports festival in Machakos Utawala with Deliverance Church Embakasi. Over 150 children participated in various handball and tchoukball games on the day, singing and having a lot of fun together.  

The morning started with small games together like “Fisherman, fisherman, how deep is the water?”. Afterwards, the kids were divided into age-matched groups and were able to develop their sporting skills accordingly. Our TYCE and weltwärts volunteers and also the local tchoukball team trained the kids in different exercises. While the younger ones practiced catching and throwing with further games, our dedicated coaches already showed the older ones the correct throwing technique and how to bounce and run with the ball. The children were then able to apply these skills immediately in the game. Following the handball lesson, the tchoukball team took over the field and taught the children how to throw at the tchoukball frame. 

After this exhausting but also educational sports part, everyone was hungry for the delicious lunch and enjoyed the well-deserved break. 

After the lunch break, there was singing together with Deliverance Church Embakasi and more small games were played. To end the day, a church service was held before the day ended with a football match between the PlayHandball volunteers and the older boys from the community. All the children cheered loudly for the teams. The game ended with a fair 4:4.

The children were very motivated and learned quickly accordingly. Who knows, maybe we motivated one or the other on this day to play handball in the future. In summary, both the children and all the helpers had a great and enriching sports day, which will certainly not be the last one in Utawala.

For more impressions, here is a link to a video about the day. Enjoy watching!

SPORTS DAY & MENTORSHIP | PLAY HANDBALL