This archive report was first published on 6 July 2019.
As I sit down to write this column, I am eagerly looking forward to reading a letter from Elizabeth Ndinda, a former tennis pupil of mine at Loreto Convent Msongari.
Ms Ndinda's letter, dated the late 1980s, brought back memories of my time as a tennis coach at the school, where I worked with players aged between eight and eleven years.
What struck me most about Ms Ndinda's letter was the fact that she remembered me from those distant and tender years of hers.
I am hoping that she will tell me that I was a good coach, one who made tennis such good fun for her that she developed a lifelong love for it.
But I must admit that I found it rejuvenating being taken back to those relatively youthful days of mine and reminded of my racket-swinging days across the tennis courts of Kenya.
As I reflect on my time as a tennis coach, I am reminded of the importance of exercise in a healthy lifestyle.
Medical professionals are almost unanimous in their recommendation that regular exercise is the best natural contributor to a healthy lifestyle, next to a sensible diet.
Unfortunately, very few of us, especially in the urban middle classes, put in even the minimum expected exercise to sustain a healthy body.
But back to my mwalimu realm, I believe that the values and principles of sustained endeavour, teamwork, honest competition, and fair play that we impart to our young people on the courts, pitches, and racing tracks of our school playgrounds may be the foundation of the brave new Africa that we all desire to see.
Anyway, I am invariably grateful and gratified to hear from you, whether you are my reader, former student, or, like Elizabeth Ndinda, my former tennis pupil.
