My

Story

Clara

“I grew up with my grandmother in Tanga. At the age of 12, my family and I moved to Dar es Salaam so that I could finish school and, later, go on to join the teaching college. Sport always played an important part in my life. When I play sport, I feel so happy.

I am the only teacher in my school that teaches sports because the rest do not really have an interest in it. I train both boys and girls. I encourage the girls to play and tell them that they can do even better than the boys. Although my school doesn’t have much equipment, I find a way to run training sessions. This often means I pay for equipment out of my own pocket. But at the end of the day, it makes me proud to see the kids succeed, and know that I have contributed to their success.

The kids often come to me and say, ‘I want to be like you’. I tell them, ‘You can be more than me, and you should aim to be more than me. Because this is me and, you are you’. I encourage them to do, and be, better.

The kids gain a lot of benefits from my training sessions because I don’t only teach football or sports – I shape the kids. I like the kids to behave well. I like the kids to be role models. I sometimes get a call from the parents telling me how their child has changed because of my input. For example, a parent told me that their child had cleaned his room before coming to training due to my input. I am happy to get this feedback.

The Young Coach Education changed my coaching behaviour a lot. We learnt a lot of things about how to deal with kids and how to deal with ourselves. When I am doing something or face challenges, I often reflect on the education. It really helped me. And this Follow-up Education helped me even more. Coaching might seem like something small, but for us [Young Coaches] it is the most important thing. The greatest thing that I learnt here was captured in one sentence when the instructor said: “We need coaches that teach the children how to use their brain, not just their power”. I really liked this information. Being part of this education was the best gift I could receive.”