Sidmouth resident and sports coach Gus McVey travelled to Zimbabwe and Kenya over the Easter break to help the African Hockey Federation (AHF) spread the hockey word.
His first stop was Zimbabwe, where he delivered 20 sticks to the AHF vice chairman Ginny Ross. The sticks will be used for a project in the town of Kadoma, when the hockey season starts at the end of May.
All the sticks were very kindly donated by the Exeter College Hockey Academy students.
This was followed by a stop in Nairobi, where he ran a coaching sessions for both the men’s and ladies’ student teams at Kenyatta University. Speaking to the students after the session they all referred affectionately to Gus as ‘Coach Mzungu’ (Swahili meaning English speaking).
When asked what he thought about the hosts’ description of him, Gus, who smiled his whole way through the experience, said: “It could have been worse! Working with these players has been an amazing experience. They don’t have a lot, but are always smiling and love playing the game of hockey.”
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