Regina’s Story 

With support from Special Olympics Malawi, I embedded the Young Athletes program into my tennis sessions which has been assisting most of my Athletes in developing motor skills quickly. The fun aspect of the program is the highlight to my Athletes’ love for participating in physical activity. They are always looking forward to the next training session.  

Training young players is quite an interesting and exciting journey. You have to be very resourceful and creative at the same time as you need to make each session more exciting and fun for them. I love the fact that this pushes me to always be updated with new trends and ways of educating them. The best part is the happiness I get when I see smiles on their faces after achieving the skill I have imparted into them. There are also moments where they get sad or cry when they feel they are not achieving the goal that has been set for them. These are the moments I become a parent to them and offer encouragement to keep them going.  

Parents are the centre part of my Young Athletes’ lives and I always make sure to involve them in their kids’ practice and events. I set up a Parents’ WhatsApp group where I interact with them. I also invite them to their kids’ practice as well as events. They are also called to meetings whenever there is a need. This is all to ensure that they know and understand what is happening in their children’s lives. Home plan sessions are also made for them whenever there is need to keep other kids active in physical activity.  

Coaching young players comes with passion, love for the kids, love for physical activity and a lot of patience. These are all qualities that are instilled in me and training them comes naturally. The bond I have with the kids makes my training sessions manageable and I get lots of love and respect from them.  

To all the people out there who would like to take the journey of working with young people in sports or who are already on this journey, my advice is that:  
 
“Apart from being patient, kind and loving, be like them. Stoop to their level and be one of them. However, make sure that you put control whenever there is need, specifically when they misbehave. Young people are also the most vulnerable in sports so make sure that you are at the forefront, fighting for their rights.”