Local coach and fitness bunny uses sports to escape social challenges
Coach said their award-winning non-profit organisation has helped many young people become better athletes since its formation.
Co-founder of Youth Alive Sports Project, athletics coach at Fitness from Africa, Precious Hlaka said helping local youngsters achieve their dreams is what gives her a peaceful sleep at night.
Hlaka hails from Limpopo province and moved to Johannesburg at a very tender age said sport helped her escaped many social challenges.
In 2019 Hlaka co-founded the Youth Alive Sports Project non-profit organisation with Johannes Molepo to help youngsters from Riverside and Diepsloot sharpen their sports skills.
“I literally grew up in sport from an early age. I started playing soccer when I was in Grade 3 and since then I’ve never loved anything more than the sports field. Because sports helped me build my character, I used it as tool to escape many social challenges in my life.”
She said their award-winning non-profit organisation has helped many young people become better athletes since its formation.
“Our goal at the Youth Alive Sport Project is to raise awareness about challenges faced by boys and girls in sport due to socioeconomic issues. We also aim to empower underprivileged girls and boys to constructively pursue their hopes and dreams. We provide them with mentorship programmes to help them maximise their potential.”
Her organisation won Community Project of the Year in 2020 and 2021 at the Gauteng Women in Sports Awards.
It also won Community Project of the Year at the Johannesburg Women in Sports Awards in 2021.
“I work with quite a number of young people on a daily basis. One of them was recently selected by Adidas to be in their brand clothing shoot and another one recently secured a scholarship to study in the USA. We also help donate sanitary towels to less-privileged girls.”
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