Football drill during the Life Skills training

In our blog we will introduce the wide range of services and activities that are being offered at our Health Academy. Every week one of the WKU team members gives you an insight into why the Health Academy is so popular and successful in Edendale.

Being a life skills trainer in the Edendale schools is such a great job.

To be honest, I learn a lot myself from being a life skills trainer and also get to know kids more and learn more about how they see things and respond to the knowledge you give them. Sometimes you find kids who are really good in the life skills and some of them are good on the football field - and of course some are talented in both. But each and every one of those kids is a great personality and it is a pleasure to work with them.

I started coaching life skills here at the Health Academy and it has been a great experience for me and I’ve learnt a lot; even own my life skills and knowledge improves each day. At the moment I coach at Muzi Thusi Primary School and it is great working with the kids from that school because they show a lot of interest in the programme and our curriculum.

To tell you more about my task as a life skills trainer, I teach the kids how to live healthy and how to take good care of themselves as they grow up to become young adults. I teach them about HIV&AIDS and how it affects the human body, and also about the sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and the best ways to avoid them. The 3-session Sexual Health manual, which I use, is the key for my training. It explains all the activities and football drills that help young people to understand the life skills and gets them motivated in this great programme.

In order to enjoy and be able to run a proper life skills training, you should be flexible and energetic because kids need to have fun and encouragement. It is important for me as a coach to be around when the kids need help, even outside of the life skills session.