June 2018- Neema, All Star Athlete

Throughout April and May, students from Tumaini Junior School and Tumaini Senior Secondary School have been traveling around the Arusha region to compete in various sports at the ward, district, and regional level. However, in Tanzania, students are chosen individually to advance to the next level, not necessarily as a team. From the ward level, they choose the best players from all the schools in the ward to make up the district team. Then the best athletes from the district are chosen to represent our district at a regional level and so on until you reach nationals. This year, we were incredibly impressed by the performance of our students. One student in particular, Neema, was a stand out at the regional level. 

This year, Neema, who is in her first year at Tumaini Senior Secondary School, qualified to regionals in volleyball, basketball, soccer, and netball. Following districts, she went to Manyara Secondary School to train with the regional soccer team there, not because it was her favorite sport, but because she thought it was the one she needed the most practice with. After returning from her adventures, Neema gave us some insight into her experiences in these recent competitions. "I really enjoyed training with people from other schools. My favorite thing about the sports competition was that everyone was telling me I was playing well. That made me want to work harder. I liked it very much because it's what I'm talented in."

So far, Tumaini Senior Secondary School has one student who has qualified to compete at the national level. Uda, who is in her second year at Tumaini Senior, has qualified to nationals for the second time in basketball! Stay tuned for updates on her experience at nationals this year.