By Kuda Pembere
Young adolescent girls have hailed the ‘My Gender, My Strength’ programme held in Harare over the weekend, saying it boosted their confidence not only in playing table tennis but also in leadership skills.
The programme, which trained girls and boys from schools in Harare and Mutare, started last Friday and ended on Sunday. It was spearheaded by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).
Confidence serves as a protective psychological resource that can enhance resilience, reduce the risk of anxiety and depression, and empower adolescent girls to navigate social pressures and internal challenges.
Speaking to HealthTimes, Fungai Tanhara, an ITTF Level 1 coach, said the programme focused on empowering girls through table tennis.
“This programme is called My Gender, My Strength, which is a programme that is run by ITTF, which talks of empowering the girl child, women in table tennis, and we also look at coaching them on the table as well as beyond the table where we do leadership skills for them,” she said.
Tanhara said the programme also addressed issues of self-confidence among adolescent girls.
“Most of the girls that we coach, from primary school to high school, when they go into adolescence, their bodies change and they also have hormonal issues going on, so sometimes some of them lose confidence in themselves because things are happening, or now the boys are looking at them.
“So what we teach them here is that you should be confident with your body, you should be confident with the way you look, or whatever changes are happening in your life, you have to be confident,” she said.
“And when you’re playing sport, we don’t want them to play sport as if they’re being looked down on because they’re girls. We want them to play, have confidence in their play, and even when you’re doing the strokes that you’re doing, you do them with confidence and you will definitely reach far.”
She added that discussions also touched on body confidence and mental well-being.
“So yes, we really push the issue. We talk about body confidence, we talk about mental health. We try by all means to teach them that life comes with its own challenges, but you then learn to mitigate and learn how best to overcome the challenges that you have. So we teach all the girl children that.”
Reflecting on the three days of training, Tanhara said the experience was eye-opening for her as a coach.
“It’s been eye-opening, because I have primary school kids and these kids, they’re different from the high school kids. They’re emotional. When you teach them something or you tell them, no, you’re doing it wrong, or they can’t get a skill, they cry,” she said.
“But then you realise they’re still babies because some of them are grade threes and grade fours. So you also, as a coach, grow in learning to be patient with them, learning to control them, and also babysit them more.”
She said coaches also needed to be alert to behavioural changes in teenagers.
“When you get to the older girls, they are moody, just like with young teenagers. They have behavioural issues, but when you’re coaching them, you’re also watching out for sensitive issues and looking after what they’re doing.
“But I noticed that most of them are enjoying it, and most of them lack the basic strokes.
“Most of them are used to chopping and smashing, but when you teach them the basics, you realise that they are not really grasping them, which everybody needs. Even world champions have to learn the basics. So it’s been great,” Tanhara said.
Makanaka Nyoni, a Form Four student at Gateway High School, said the leadership and skills-focused workshop inspired her to consider pursuing table tennis during and after school.
“It was mainly focusing on the empowerment of our gender in sports. I think it’s really helped, especially as we develop our skills so that we become more confident and don’t feel intimidated by the skills of boys.
“I think they’ve really highlighted that, and the way we’ve been developing our skills makes me feel more confident as an individual, in the way that I play the sport and in the way that I carry myself,” she said.
Christe Maria, a Form Three student from Brookeview School who started playing table tennis last year, said confidence was key to the game.
“So I started playing table tennis in the third term of 2025. This adventure has been exciting, and the coaches have helped us a lot from where we came from to where we are right now.
“We’ve been learning different skills from our coaches, and they’ve been very patient and kind with us, and I thank them for that. Table tennis is a very nice sport to play and a fun game as well, but it needs patience and confidence.
“Some people lack confidence, but when you have confidence, the game becomes easier to play because you have that zeal in yourself that pushes you to play the game in a good manner,” she said.
A Grade Six pupil from Rock of Ages School in Mutare, Privilege Buwai, said the coaches taught them both table tennis skills and self-belief.
“I’m in table tennis. Table tennis is a great sport and fun also. We learned about basic skills and confidence, like how to push, how to serve and many things like that.
