Tennis
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- Peace through Sport
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[paragraph extra=””]The traumatic effects of the 16 December 2014 Peshawar tragedy where 142 innocent Pakistanis (132 of them students) were martyred reverberate in the lives of Pakistani children whose schools have been turned into veritable military enclosures with sandbags, snipers on roof-tops, barbed wire on heightened walls, terrorist-escape drills rather than fire-drills. It is a sad sight. Children come home from school every day half-excited, half-afraid as they tell their parents about new drills and new changes in the school routine. Parents listen with a quiet prayer on their lips.
The people of Pakistan are impressively resilient. Terrorism has brought trauma and pain in their lives but it has not extinguished their smiles or gratitude for what remains: irrepressible, undiminished hope. Hope that forces life to continue normally. The sun comes out every day and, every day, people go about their daily tasks full of Faith and Hope. It is this Faith and Hope that fuels AK’s Physical Education initiatives.
AK has started a movement for “Peace through Sport.” Tennis Tournaments have been organized on district, national and international levels in the last year aiming to create an environment of peace, partnership and level-playing fields. Principles of fair-play, tolerance are stressed in a framework of fun and friendly competition. The January 2015 National Junior Tennis Tournament hosted over one hundred and twenty tennis players who came from all corners of the country including a sizeable team representing Peshawar and the KPK province.
Further programmes in the pipeline include starting badminton at the community level for all women (working inside or outside the house) to help relieve stress and enhance mental health and conducting practical courses in PT (physical training) for children of all ages.[/paragraph][/two_third]
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- Junior District and National Tournaments
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[paragraph extra=””]AKF is a keen supporter of the interest, determination and hard work shown by children in Tennis. By way of appreciation and encouragement, AKF has been providing junior players with opportunities to compete, develop discipline and a sense of fair-play. For the last three years, tournaments have been held on local, provincial and national levels for boys and girls. Each year, the tournaments get bigger, better and harder with representation from all parts of Pakistan. We have had the opportunity to follow the progress of young players, increase prize-money for winners and finalists and engage older players as coaches for junior training programmes.[/paragraph][/two_third]
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- Girls Tennis Camps and Tournaments[/heading]
[paragraph extra=””]Special emphasis is placed on promoting sport among girls whose level of confidence, commitment, endurance and stamina during training camps and friendly matches demonstrates skills at par with boys. Unfortunately, due to social and cultural restrictions, many girls are deprived of an opportunity to show their excellence in sport. AKF has designed programmes to promote sport in girls whilst respecting familial and cultural apprehensions. Tennis training camps have been designed exclusively for girls which will cater to female players of all levels – from beginners to advanced. The week long training camp will consist of 5-days intensive training in fitness, technique, concentration and will culminate in matches for the last two days so that the girls can experience the entire breadth of the sport and whether they decide to pursue it or not, they will leave having been taught important life-lessons in grace in winning, hope in losing, sense of fair-play, sharpening physical and mental concentration, quick decision-making and the importance of a level-playing field. The larger aim is to bring up active, responsible citizens with life-skills and leadership through innovative tennis..[/paragraph][/two_third]
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- Sports Medicine [/heading]
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AK participated in a 3 day workshop, held by Punjab Sports Board in Lahore, on Nutrition and Nutritional Supplement in Sports. AK learned about modern methodologies to augment the knowledge, skills and performance of sportsmen through a nutritious diet plan and sports medicine.
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