Day: January 7, 2021

As we come at the end of 2020 with so much adaptation, restructure and finding new ways to reach out to our schools and the community.

There was change, there were smiling faces and indeed grateful hearts.

Kayamandi Primary

The Tennis World Foundation brought so much light to Kayamandi Primary school as well as the community of Kayamandi. They filed a big gap in the school. Teachers were anxious as to how they can reach out to the community and help them in this difficult time. They feel blessed and are extremely grateful for the funds Tennis World Foundation contributed to the school.

Launching a project is easy. Taking it forward is less predictable, especially in a difficult period like this. Tennis World Foundation (www.tennisworldfoundation.com) is not only doing this, but also increasing its commitment.

The goal of the foundation launched by Federico Coppini remains the support of the weaker groups, favouring their insertion into society through tennis, a sport that guarantees remarkable physical and mental development for children.

Until a few months ago, tennis was a splendid pretext for helping children in the most disadvantaged areas of Africa. The main objective of the Tennis World Foundation, in fact, remains the protection of the weakest sections.

If a talent were to emerge, well, all the better. But the COVID-19 nightmare changed everything. The foundation strongly desired by Federico Coppini did not stop its activity, on the contrary, it intensified it at a time when the needs became increasingly urgent.

Numbers are useful, but they have no heart. They don’t tell the stories behind it. Every day, millions of people anxiously observe the data on the spread of the Pandemic, in the hope of finding a sign of hope. But the numbers do not tell what happens to those affected, even if only indirectly.

They said that South Africa is in 30th position in terms of number of infections, but (like almost every country) it has suffered a lockdown that has put thousands of people in difficulty, including children who had joined the Tennis World Foundation project.

Among the various conditions necessary to do a good job, what Tennis World Foundation (TWF) needs the most are foresight and passion of school leaders. Without their collaboration, it would not be easy to involve children who have yet to understand the value of having discipline. Fortunately, TWF has found fertile ground at the Ikahya primary school in Kayamandi, South Africa.

The intuition of Federico Coppini, founder of the Tennis World Foundation, proved to be even more correct than expected. He thought that TWF could represent a practical and social value, but in the first months of activity he realized an even more important aspect: Tennis World Foundation can represent an important psychological support.

Tennis World Foundation’s projects are not stopping. In recent days, the partnership with the primary school in Kayamandi, a suburb of Stellenbosch, located about 50 km east of Cape Town, South Africa, has been made official.

The initiative will last a semester and offer two aspects: not only an introduction to the game of tennis, but also a generic sports program. This is basic: tennis can be a lot of fun, but it’s very focused on technique. For this, learning can be longer and not always so fun. And so, Tennis World Foundation has chosen to support it with a more generic, immediate program, which will involve the 148 third-grade children who will participate in the project.

The projects and objectives of the Tennis World Foundation are well known: to offer those who never would have had a chance, especially if they are children born and raised in the difficult reality of Sub-Saharan Africa. If there are any special talent hiding among these children, it will be even more beautiful.

A winning story can become a fairy tale. However, in order for this to happen, we need some components to build the narrative. In Africa something like this is happening thanks to the Tennis World Foundation. Why Africa? Upon close inspection, it can be seen that Africa is the ideal place to find great little heroes.

When he set foot in Africa for the first time, Federico Coppini had not imagined how his life would change. Of course, South Africa is very different from Italy, from Ferrara, but certain experiences led him to reconsider his priorities.

It began by chance, when he started giving tennis lessons in the suburb of Kayamandi, not too far from Cape Town. He realized that he could do something important for poor children, who are far removed from most-basic civilization.