How Our Volleyball Partnership Is Transforming Lives in Tanzania
Twenty-eight student athletes at Kiboriloni Secondary School in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, are now training in a structured volleyball programme supported by our Deep Dish Beach community.
That number matters. It means 4 teams, made up of 2 boys’ teams and 2 girls’ teams, each with 7 players. It means regular sessions and a paid local coach leading the work on the ground.
This is the first official update from our partnership with Let’s Keep The Ball Flying, and we want to share it in the same spirit that made it possible: openly, proudly, and with the details kept clear.
Our community’s love of volleyball has travelled a long way. Every bit of support from the Deep Dish community helps us back projects that keep the sport growing beyond our own courts.
Why we are sharing this field update
We believe our community deserves to see where the support goes.
The Deep Dish Let’s Keep The Ball Flying partnership is not just a donation sent overseas and forgotten about. It is a continuing connection between our volleyball community and a school programme led by people already doing the daily work in Tanzania.
The update gives us a first proper look at how the funding is being used at Kiboriloni Secondary School. It also gives us a chance to recognise the local coaches, organisers, players, and families who are building something week by week.
The PDF update connected to this post gives the official field snapshot. Here, we are walking through the key points in plain language, so everyone in our community can understand what has started, what is being supported.
The programme now supports 28 selected players
The first clear result is the creation of 4 selection teams at Kiboriloni Secondary School.
Programme detail | Current update |
School | Kiboriloni Secondary School |
Location | Kilimanjaro, Tanzania |
Teams supported | 4 selection teams |
Girls’ teams | 2 teams |
Boys’ teams | 2 teams |
Total players | 28 players |
Players per team | 7 players |
Training rhythm | 3 to 5 sessions per week, depending on weather and court conditions |
This gives the programme a strong and balanced starting point. Boys and girls are both included. The team sizes are clear. The training rhythm is ambitious, but still shaped by real local conditions.
For our community, this is one of the most important parts of the update. The funding is not going into a loose idea of “sport”.
Local leadership sits at the centre of the work
A programme like this only works when it is led well locally.
At Kiboriloni Secondary School, that leadership includes Project Coordinator and Coach John Paul. His role is vital. He is there for the sessions, the players, the standards, the routine, and the details that keep training moving in the right direction.
It would be easy to talk only about money, kit, or equipment. Those things matter, but they do not run a training session. They do not set expectations. They do not notice when a player needs guidance. They do not build trust with students.
People do that.
Support goes beyond volleyballs and court time
The field update also gives a clearer picture of what the sponsorship supports beyond the act of playing.
Volleyball is the centre of the programme, but the players need more than a ball and a net to train well. They need food, kit, opportunities to learn, and a coach who can keep showing up.
Our donation directly supports several practical areas.
Two practices a week, aiming for three soon
Meal support for the children
New customised jerseys
The coach's stipend
Support to take part in camps support
These details matter because they show the shape of the whole programme. The support is not one-dimensional.
This is where community volleyball sponsorship becomes real. It shows up as a meal after training. It shows up as a coach who can plan the next session. It shows up as a shirt a player can pull on before a match. It shows up as another chance to learn at camp.
Those are simple things, but simple does not mean small.
Eliah’s journey shows why individual stories matter
Numbers help us stay transparent. Names help us remember what the numbers mean.
One of the stories highlighted in the update is Eliah’s. Eliah was thriving in volleyball, and that detail alone says a lot. It tells us this programme is not only about creating teams on paper. It is about athletes discovering that they can grow through the sport.
We do not want to add details that are not ours to tell. What we can say is that Eliah’s story gives our community a human link to the programme. It reminds us that each of the 28 selected players has their own starting point, their own reasons for playing, and their own path through the sport.
For Eliah, and for the other students in the programme, regular training creates space for those steps to happen.
This is why we are proud to share the update with our community. It connects the financial support to real players. It turns a donation into a developing story.
The partnership is built on shared responsibility
Let’s Keep The Ball Flying’s role is to connect and guide the wider project. John Paul and the local team lead the work day to day. The students bring their effort, energy, and commitment.
That shared structure is important.
We are not the centre of the story at Kiboriloni Secondary School. The players and local leaders are.
Our community has helped provide resources that make their work more stable and better supported.
That is the right shape for this kind of partnership.
That is a strong first update. It also gives us a baseline for future updates. As the programme develops, we will be able to report back with the same level of clarity.
A proud moment for our whole community
This partnership began with volleyball, but it is now connected to something much wider than one court.
At Deep Dish Beach, we see every day how sport brings people together. We see it in beginners learning the basics, regulars improving their game, teams competing hard, and friends staying after sessions to talk about one more rally.
Now a piece of that same volleyball energy is supporting a structured school programme in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.
To everyone in our community who has supported Deep Dish Beach in any way: this is part of what your support can do.
We will keep sharing the story as it develops. For now, we are grateful to Let’s Keep The Ball Flying, Coach John Paul, Kiboriloni Secondary School, and every player stepping onto the court.
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