Cycling Whole Life Coaching for @Risk African Kids

Jonkershoek Cycling Project                                                                                 fourth term / 2019

The second semester of the year is always packed with activities and excitement. One season which gets the kids very excited, is the Spur MTB Schools League happening over the winter months, with four events taking place in each province, with a final in Magaliesburg for the leaders. These events create a fun competitive environment, where the kids can learn to test themselves against their peers. Our focus in going to the events is mostly to have fun with mountain biking, since we work mostly with fairly young kids. Our teenagers generally like to start pushing their own limits, which we then allow opportunity for as well. Two of our team members went for sport science VO2Max tests, in order for us to compile a proper training program, which they can follow (while using heart rate monitors) to optimally increase their fitness. The two boys really enjoy their training, although some moans-and-groans are also in the mix.  

Many of the boys also did the Fedhealth Challenge, loving the different scenery and trails. They did the 15km and 30km events, which challenges the younger ones to push themselves a bit harder and further than just the average afternoon ride.

It’s not all just training and racing; these last few months we’ve had a professional Life Coach involved, who assisted the kids to make progress towards their goals and dreams. She spent some individual time with a few of them to hone in on the finer details of what they aim to achieve and how to go about in actually attaining them. These mostly included cycling skills like taking bigger jumps and going faster on the single tracks, although becoming professional cyclists, doctors, fire fighters and engineers were also in the mix. Boys will be boys…

After the winter, we also had a big group of girls return for some riding. Some days we were nearly fifteen riders going out on the girls training ride, which included the ladies coming to volunteer on the cycling program. We hope to see these girls on some races next year.

Some big news about one of our old beneficiaries Lorenzo, is that he recently joined a more senior and competitive development racing team, where he won the Exxaro Development Cycling category on the Wine to Whales MTB stage race. Besides receiving a bag of prize money, a R1,2million bursary fund from the Curro Foundation was rewarded to him for the schooling of his children. We are so proud of him, this has always been his dream and now he is getting there fast, being a role model to many of the kids from Jonkershoek.

We had a joyful year-end celebration with all the kids from the cycling project, aftercare centre and mentoring groups, with fun activities and gifts for all. It’s so inspirational to see the children grow year after year and knowing that these opportunities offered by the projects makes a very big tangible difference in each of their lives. We are ending the year with a full and thankful heart.

One of our older beneficiaries has faced a lot of difficulties, especially during his teenage years. Besides dealing with epilepsy, he does not fit into the normal school structure and was therefore sidelined by peers, teachers and basically the schooling system failed him. Due to these and many other factors, he was very susceptible to the wrong influences, looking for his identity and a place of belonging in all the wrong place. Luckily he was able to find a lot of this at the cycling project and off-course in his relationship with God, which was also encouraged at the project and during mentoring. In his own words, he finds the cycling “lekker, baie lekker” which means, “enjoyable, very enjoyable”. He says he has learnt so much from attending the project. He wants to become a professional cyclist and he is dedicated to train hard and make sure he doesn’t give up. He says the project has taught his lots of discipline, focus, endurance and dedication. He loves the socializing with the team, the volunteers and leaders. Cycling has helped him to stay away from the wrong influences and helped him to make good choices. He is now training on a professional cycling program and doing well to stay on track with his goals. He also serves as project assistant.