SOHK Stories
Imaan
In the beginning Imaan made up excuses as to why she could not train with her team. However as the weeks and now years have gone by she has become a valuable part of her SOHK team and her family. Here is her story.
Thaara
Thaara chose the wrong path and was failing school. But then she met School of Hard Knocks and she turned things around. She thought she was alone, she found her team. She found herself.
Micah
Hear about Micah's School of Hard Knock's journey and how he overcame a negative belief about himself to achieving his dream of becoming a school prefect.
Zaakirah*
When Zaakirah was first asked what type of person she is, she couldn't identify any of her personality traits, nor personal values. She described herself as fun, but couldn't elaborate.
On the field she would display negative tendencies towards herself as well as within her team. She would disrespect and emotionally break down some of her teammates. This was an instant red flag.
Despite her temperamental and negative demeanour, she is a very gentle and misunderstood person. Intervention started rough. She believed that expressing and talking about emotions and challenges made her look weak. She also felt as though she's not understood.
In working with her throughout 2020, Coach Courtney has seen a positive shift in her mindset towards herself as well as others. She now interacts with teammates whom she never thought she ever would, and she's supportive of the teammates she would previously tease and disrespect.
From the SOHK curriculum, she learnt self control and this resulted in her being able to handle challenging tasks and situations. She's identified her SOHK team as a safe space to be herself. She's been able to identify that her emotions sometimes results in unwanted reactions toward the people closest to her (eg. Her mom and brother), and she's currently working on regulating and managing that behaviour. Within the year, she's also learnt how to identify and set SMART goals for herself.
Zaakirah, hasn't had the best history with regards to her health. She suffers from an illness that affects her day to day activities. She's voiced that regular physical activity at SOHK sessions impacted her positively. She's felt less tired and have been able to eat better, especially after sessions on the field.
Since starting with SOHK, Zaakirah has not been suspended from school, which is a big success, and has been acknowledged by her teachers as well.
Lastly, as mentioned before, she's had extreme difficulty speaking to people about her mental health, however she has voiced that she feels safe speaking to her SOHK coach. A big success from our side is that when Zaakirah recently went through a life changing, stressful situation, her mom reached out to us expressing that Zaakirah ONLY wants to speak to her SOHK coach.
It's apparent that more work needs to be done and ongoing intervention is taking place, but it's clear that her progress needs to be celebrated.
*We have used a pseudonym.
Victor*
Victor is a very vibrant kid from Bokaap who loves rugby and hopes to further his career in rugby whether it’s 15s or touch. He shows has a lack of confidence in large groups and often displays anger. His parents are currently divorced and they have a very toxic relationship.
Victor feels rejected by his father and stepmother, who struggle to show him affection. During lockdown Victor was going through a really tough time as he got involved with high risk peers who were abusing drugs such as Marijuana.
Victor knew he was getting himself into a bad space and contacted Coach Urshwin because he felt he could trust him and needed someone other than his parents to speak to. So SOHK became a support structure for him. After a few sessions Victor had the confidence and self awareness to link the consequences of his actions to his behaviour.
After Victor received help the first thing he did was seek help for his friends who were still involved in high risk street activity. He is currently trying to rebuild the relationship with his dad and further his rugby.