
GHANA TENNIS AIDGhana Tennis Aid is a UK based founded appeal of collecting tennis/sports equipment to give underprivaledged communities in Ghana and other parts of Africa, the opportunity to play tennis under the umbrella of a Gap Year company www.realgap.com Ghana Tennis Aid is in association with UK Tennis Charity TENNIS FOR FREE www.tennisforfree.com TENNIS FOR AFRICA www.tennisforafrica.org and has been nominated for the Professional Tennis Registry (PTR) Humanitarian Award 2010Ghana National Tennis Coach Noah Bagerbaseh and GTA Founder Sal Bolton Coach Noah - Ghanaian National Head Coach ' This is to thank everyone who has helped to take Winneba and Ghana tennis to another level. Since July 2007 as Tennis for free volunteer coaches, the volunteers and contributors have brought a lot of happiness to Ghanaian tennis youth, especially those in Winneba. The National Sports College Academy in Winneba received several donations of rackets, tennis balls, clothes, shoes,and some coaching equipment. With these donations, the tennis development project in Ghana was enhanced and new school training programmes were introduced to catch them young talent.
Tournaments and competitions have soon became part of the development project. The donated items were used as prices after every tournament and competition. The basic schools around the university of Education in Winneba also benefited from donations like mathematics text books,English reading books, pens and pencils.
Also, the volunteers were able to raise some funds to sponsor one of our tennis players to the ITF training centre in Pretoria, South Africa for one month. This player is now fast establishing himself as one of the best tennis players in Ghana.
The continuous donations of tennis equipments from the UK through the construction company(Taylor Woodrow) has enabled this academy to be an outstanding tennis training centre in the sub-region. We are forever grateful to you and may God richly Bless you. Noah. 'awwww thanks Coach!
PEOPLETALK RADIO RELEASE SIX PART AUDIO BOOK 'THE CALL OF AFRICA' Thu, 10 September 2009
Sal Bolton spent the best part of 8 months writing a memoir book about her experience in Ghana that inspired this appeal. She was lucky enough to get an oppurtunity to adapt, edit and narrate the story by PeopleTalk Radio into six 10 minute episodes to be listened on Podcast or downloaded onto Ipods.

Episode One: Africa is calling
Episode Two: Gateway to Africa
Episode Three: First impressions
Coming soon......
Episode Four: Voyage to The North
Episode Five: To Walk With The Elephants
Episode Six: Making a Difference
Narrated and written by Sal Bolton
Directed and produced by Nigel Killick
‘You can do it for 3 months or longer, West Africa, country called Ghana – you could teach the kids how to play tennis there’….
Akwaaba! These 6 short episodes depict memoirs from the stories of young University Graduate Sal Bolton making a soul searching decision in taking the sport she loves to aid the underprivileged communties of deepest darkest Africa to the land of the Black Star, Ghana.
The episodes follow Sal’s adventures from the encouraging words of a university friend to make a difference in the world after a heavy night of student partying in England….to the unpredictable Tro Tro rides of the dusty congested backstreets of Accra, an adrenaline fuelled adventure across the biggest lake in Africa and roaming the roads of the unknown to walk with the elephants, and receiving her very first marriage proposal whilst being sold a steering wheel. The series highlights the interesting and comedic customs and etiquette she encounters as an ‘Obruni’ in Africa, whilst interacting with the ‘happy go lucky’ local Ghanaians in their habitat and also the heartwarming inner peace she finally finds whilst offering a hand to those less fortunate.
These stories are adapted from a forthcoming book, The Call of Africa which hope to inspire and open the eyes for anybody that’s ever wondered what its like to be a young white girl living and breathing this magical continent in the aim of making a difference.
I would like to acknowledge and thank Cat O’Connor for her help with this project
http://www.myspace.com/catoconnorGhana Tennis Aid web page:
http://ghanatennisaid.wetpaint.com/View photos of the Ghana Tennis project at
http://www.myalbum.com/Album=6WM6QZ6B Direct download:
2_Gateway_to_Africa.mp3Category:
Audio Books -- posted at: 6:49 AM
LATEST APPEAL - Summer 2009School Books for the Winneba School Over 500 Books collected!!!!!!!!!Ghana Tennis Aid launched a summer appeal to collect school books for the children attending the local school in Winneba. Learning resources are a scarcity in Africa, and the University Practice Secondary School where many of the tennis children attended. The school has a new library, built in 2007 but the shelves were empty of learning resources so this is where we've stepped in to help. Thanks to Cheam Library and various individuals and establishments in the South London area. Over 500 books were collected and sent to the school in October. See Winneba School Book Appeal School Tennis For Sierra LeoneGhana Tennis Aid and Tennis For Africa are seeking to do a follow up trip to Sierra Leone to the school to revitalise some tennis activity and are looking for flight sponsorship or any funding help aswell as the need to refurbish the tennis courts. If you would like to help, see more about the school at Sierra Leone School Tennis Appeal Email salbolton@live.com or jchubbard@hotmail.co.uk 
Ghana Tennis Aid supports
Right To Dream www.righttodream.com a charity that is trying to raise $1 million to build a multi sports academy in Ghana aiming to give children a sporting chance in Africa by offering scholarships in sport and education to impoverished children who's talents go unnoticed.....

Watch the video for UK Tennis Charity
Tennis For Free where there's no need to pay to play - the way it should be!
http://www.digitaldelicious.com/Client_TFF_Full_Edit_05_Play.htmlSo.... 1. GTA asked various individuals, local tennis clubs and retailers to collect and donate anything that can aid a tennis lesson (i.e - unused tennis rackets, balls, bags, shoes, clothes, sports equipment) 2. Then..can take it on the flight for a magical adventure to Africa yourself (Thank You Astreus Airlines www.flystar.com) or shipping it by the help of those FAB people at companies Taysec, Robert Claire and COBA UK 3. Donations arrive in Africa and get to the communties and hey presto! Ghana Tennis Aid was featured on British Television Channel 5 'Five News' with Natascha Kaplinsky February 2008
Watch more videos on Tennis in Ghana here
AFRICABy founder Sal Bolton
´The Appeal first started collecting anything tennisy in early 2007 when I took a 5 month gap year trip to Ghana, West Africa to teach underprivaleged communities how to play tennis as a volunteer with 'Global Sports Xperience' who helped deprived communities all over the world through sports and non sports orientated projects. Whilst studying Geography at University, humanitarian topics on African countries made me more aware of the realism of poverty and deprivation people in the Third World face everyday. So...when a friend showed me the oppurtunity of doing the gap year Tennis Project in Ghana, I felt I could help give underprivaledged children the opportunities I had through playing tennis. I knew how scarce equipment would be, a major obstacle for anything in Africa (you'll rarely find a child who can afford their own pair of shoes) and with Tennis - balls lose their bounce, racket strings break and you kinda need proper shoes to play a proper game....so the GTA Appeal was born.....'
GHANA (for obvious reasons) Alot of the stuff collected from the appeal has been taken or shipped to the communites where Global Sports Xperience placed volunteers at The National Sports College, Winneba, Accra, and a local ophanage. See Ghana Tennis Project with Global Sports Xperience 2007
SIERRA LEONE Italian based charity 'Tennis For Africa' auction player memoribilia and fundraise from tennis events for projects in Africa. One of their projects is starting children playing tennis at a CKC school in Bo in Sierra Leone where rackets, balls and tennis nets have been donated from the appeal :) See Sierra Leone School Tennis AppealSupporting...
UGANDA GTA supports Denise Gwatkins UK charity
'Daniel's Dream' www.danielsdream.org.uk to help orphaned children who were living in a very dilapidated orphanage. In February 2008 and 2009, Denise went out to Uganda with a load of tennis equipment and introduced the game to children who had never used a racket before. Her charity aims to help Daniel, who has been helping children for years, to keep his orphanage in Uganda going and to buy a plot of land to build a boarding school - aint that cool! Ghana Tennis Aid donated a tennis net and tennis balls from local tennis clubs for Daniel's Orphange in Kampala.
Contributors to GTA in all shapes and forms...... Thanks guys! [Big Breath....huhh]
Special Thanks to Christian Singer of Wilson Europe for supporting by sponsoring Wilson equipment for the appeal - Thanks!
WEST AFRICAN BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONROBERT CLAIRECOBA UK www.coba-uk.orgTENNIS IN SURREY MAGAZINEGHANA LEARNING PROJECTS www.ghanalearningproject.com JUNIOR TENNIS CLAY REGISTRYCHEAM SPORTS www.cheamsports.co.ukBUDGENS SUPERMARKET - CHEAMCHEAM LIBRARYMUSCHAMP PRIMARY SCHOOLCHEAM HIGH SCHOOLA HUGE THANK YOU!!! TO IAN AND JULIE WILKES FOR THEIR VERY COOL SPONSORSHIP HELP AND EVERY SINGLE PERSON WHO GAVE ME SPONSORSHIP TO GET TO AFRICA.....AND THE FOLLOWING TENNIS CLUBS.....ST ANDREWS LAWN TENNIS CLUB http://www.cheamtennis.co.uk/HARTSWOODS LTC http://www.hartswoodtennis.co.uk/WORCESTER PARK LTC PURLEY SPORTS CLUB http://www.purleysportsclub.co.uk/SUTTON CHURCHES LTC www.clubtennis.co.ukLTA NATIONAL TENNIS CENTRE SURBITON RACKET AND FITNESS CLUB www.surbiton.orgCARSHALTON LAWN TENNIS CLUB www.carshaltontennis.org.uk